I'm Turning Into Gacha Characters?!

Chapter 491: Turned Into Gacha?! - 491

"Written exam: Excellent."

"Physical fitness: Excellent."

"Weapons and equipment: Excellent."

When Alice's test results were laid out before the Hero Association, the entire evaluation department—including Yamada—fell into a dead silence.

They never expected that the robot girl, who just two days ago had been rated near the bottom of A-Class, would completely shatter their estimates on her very first test.

This sheet wasn't just filled with a few casual praises; these were conclusions backed by raw data.

And the actual numbers had already left them utterly flabbergasted.

The results of this test surpassed most of the S-Class heroes they currently knew of. Some of the data even reached the same status as Tornado's: "unmeasurable" and "upper limit unknown."

Coupled with her equally outstanding exam scores, under normal circumstances, this would have been more than enough for them to announce a brand-new addition to the S-Class roster that very day.

But... there was a catch.

When they had initially ranked Alice at the bottom of A-Class, it wasn't without careful consideration.

On one hand, they didn't want Alice rising too high or getting too deep into the Association's core circle of top heroes.

After all, Herta had yet to show whether she viewed the Hero Association with favor or malice. Who was to say Alice wasn't her spy?

On the other hand, they desperately wanted to get on the good side of Herta, this brilliant scientist who had seemingly appeared out of thin air.

Even Child Emperor and Metal Knight claimed they couldn't trace her.

Therefore, they didn't dare rank Alice too low, fearing Herta might think they were blind to true greatness and unable to appreciate the caliber of her creation.

To a scientist, that would undoubtedly be a slight and a direct provocation.

After weighing all these factors, they had placed Alice in a spot that was by no means low, yet still safely out on the fringes.

So, what were they supposed to do now? The operations department had certainly thought themselves clever.

They had sent Alice over for testing, figuring that if she amounted to nothing, so be it, but if she actually had substance, they could use a newly minted S-Class hero to grab the public's eye and control the media narrative.

This would minimize the fallout from the heavy damage suffered by M-City, and maybe even turn a tidy profit in the process.

After all, Alice's appearance was incredibly eye-catching. Who wouldn't love a hero who was both adorable and overwhelmingly powerful?

Why would two departments within the exact same company pull off a stunt like this without any prior consultation?

The answer was simple: the Hero Association was originally built on investments from multiple corporate factions, and the operations department just happened to have quite a few high-ranking executives backing their play.

It was all about vested interests.

Meanwhile, to preserve the Hero Association's original purpose and integrity, the evaluation department had always been a more purist faction within the company.

At the very least, Yamada, as one of the main officials in charge, sided firmly with the Association's chairman.

However... it would be fine if they had a legitimate reason to hold her back, like a lack of strength, but that clearly wouldn't fly with Alice. And if it didn't fly, it meant they would likely face immense, relentless pressure from the corporate backers.

Moreover, a new S-Class hero simultaneously served everyone's interests.

It gave everyday citizens a greater sense of security, while giving them a potential new favorite to fawn over.

It gave the Hero Association more leverage when negotiating with the corporate backers, since the sheer strength of an S-Class hero was the ultimate shield.

An S-Class hero also gave the corporate backers peace of mind; after all, they were only human, and they needed protection too.

Thus, the emergence of an S-Class hero was a thrilling prospect for both ordinary people and the Hero Association alike. Even for the corporations, such a hero could protect not just their lives and property, but actually help them amass even greater wealth.

The moment photos of Alice's face landed in the hands of the corporate backers, the evaluation department knew the pressure was on.

In the end, no matter how wary they were of Herta standing behind Alice, the evaluation department still stamped their approval on Alice's S-Class hero application.

After all, their only hesitation stemmed from Herta's overly mysterious identity. Aside from that, they really had no reason to block things in a situation where everyone stood to gain.

The day after the testing was completed, the Hero Association finally released its report and official response regarding the situation in M City.

They expressed their deep grief over the destruction and casualties caused by the Tiger-level mysterious being, before pivoting to heavily promote how actively the Hero Association's own had fought during the disaster.

If not for the heroes, the destruction would have surely spread further.

If not for the heroes, the death toll would have multiplied several times over.

If not for the heroes, the post-disaster search and rescue would have been an agonizing uphill battle.

Furthermore, the fact that the disaster in M-City was subdued in a matter of hours was primarily thanks to the Hero Association's newest rookie, "The Hero."

Not only did she single-handedly and instantly eliminate a mysterious being that several A-Class and over a dozen B-Class heroes found insurmountable, but she also played a pivotal role in the subsequent rescue operations.

With her radiant, energetic smile and swift rescue speed, she minimized both the psychological trauma of the disaster and the number of casualties.

Of course, just how "minimal" that number actually was didn't matter for now. That information would only be released long after everything settled and the dust blew over. For now, it was simply "minimal."

Accompanying the Association's promotional campaign, Alice's photo appeared in the news articles and on the screens right beside the broadcast hosts.

She looked to be around fourteen or fifteen years old, a girl as lovely as a porcelain doll. Her long, blue-black hair actually surpassed her own height, spreading softly across the floor.

Her bangs fell naturally, covering her forehead down to the space between her brows. The strands of hair by her left temple extended down to her collarbone, framing a delicate, beautifully contoured face.

Her pale, flawless skin cast a soft, gentle glow under the studio lights.

She wore a white shirt with a standing collar, a deep blue tie fastened at the neckline, and a short blue-and-white hoodie over it. The hem and cuffs of the hoodie featured an elastic, fitted design, and an unfamiliar emblem was printed on the left chest.

It looked like a school uniform, yet it carried an overwhelmingly high-tech, personal flair.

Even though it was just an official ID photo taken during registration, no matter which angle one looked at it from, the girl before them was utterly striking.

"Is this the new S-Class? She looks so cute!"

"I still think Tornado is better. She looks cute, but she also gives off this strangely sexy vibe."

"'The Hero'? Is it really that simple of a title? And it doesn't really seem to match the kid, does it? Who picked it? Was there no vote?"

"An S-Class at such a young age? Come to think of it! That pillar of blue light from a few days ago—that was this kid's doing, right? She feels incredibly strong!"

The new S-Class successfully shifted everyone's attention away from the disaster and onto the hero herself.

Plenty of people discussed their impressions of this rising star, while many others searched everywhere to find out where this new S-Class had suddenly popped up from, wondering how she had rocketed straight to S-Class without making a single sound before now.

Only a small fraction of people were still genuinely paying attention to the disaster itself.

In a dimly lit room, looking at the news on his phone, a towering man with a terrifying, scarred face stared at the article before slumping helplessly to the floor.

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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL