Ashley stepped to the side and took half a step back, yielding the position at the podium.
"Now, please welcome our principal, the God Among Men—Homelander!"
Stirring background music boomed through the hall, the subwoofers vibrating the floor slightly.
Homelander strode forward with a powerful, confident gait, stepping into the center of the podium under the spotlight.
He flashed his iconic, signature smile at the camera.
"Whoa—"
An uncontrollable exclamation erupted from the audience, and several reporters even jumped up in excitement.
The frequency of the camera flashes reached its peak at that moment as the front-row reporters desperately thrust their microphones forward.
Homelander raised both hands and pressed them down slightly.
The music and the sound of camera shutters gradually quieted down.
"Thank you, thank you everyone," Homelander said with a slight smile.
"Today, I stand here for every citizen of the Galactic Human Federation."
"To give each and every one of you a fair chance to achieve your dreams!"
"Vought Vanguard Hero Academy is now officially open for enrollment across the entire Federation!"
"Whether you have already awakened superpowers or are an ordinary person who believes you have potential, you can apply!"
"Of course, applicants under the age of eighteen will need to have their enrollment confirmed by a legal guardian."
A reporter asked loudly, "Mr. Homelander, I have a question. Ordinary people who feel they have potential can also apply? Do they not need to possess superpowers?"
"Good question." Homelander winked mysteriously.
"I must announce some exciting news to the World. Vought International has mastered the technology to safely activate the latent superpowers within humans!"
He looked at the camera confidently and said, "As long as you pass Vought's entrance test and are admitted to the academy, you can become a proud V-Vanguard! A superhero of the future!!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire hall boiled over again!
Ordinary people can also become superheroes? This was practically a divine path for commoners to transcend their social class!
The reporters below raised their hands frantically, and the scene was nearly out of control.
"What about the tuition? Can an ordinary family afford the fees for such an elite academy?" another reporter who had managed to get the floor asked loudly.
Homelander smiled and shook his index finger. "There is no need to worry at all. As long as you are admitted, all tuition, room and board, and other miscellaneous fees for ordinary families will be fully advanced by Vought International."
"After graduation, these costs will be deducted interest-free from your future salary. There is no need to apply for those high-interest student loans."
"Vought will never let money become a stumbling block to your dreams!"
"Remember these words..."
Homelander gave a thumbs-up to the camera.
"Chase your dreams if you have them! Come to Vought and make your life more wonderful!"
...
All the footage from this press conference spread to every corner of the Federation with unimaginable speed.
Once the bombshell news was released, people no longer cared at all about the village that had fallen from the sky, nor did they care about what those reclusive villagers had actually experienced.
The attention of all mankind was completely and firmly seized by the two terms: "Hero Academy" and "Activate Superpowers."
The temptation of everyone becoming a superhero was just too great!
The energy drink launched by Vought International had reached number one in sales worldwide, leading by a landslide, based solely on the five "Golden Ticket" slots.
Countless people bought cases upon cases just to experience that brief twenty-minute journey as a superhuman.
And now, the opportunity to permanently become a superpowered individual was placed directly in front of them!
In Britain, inside a crowded Irish pub.
Homelander's speech had just finished playing on the big screen.
Rarely, not a single person in the bar spoke; even the bartender's movement of wiping a glass stopped.
"Did you hear that? You just have to pass the test!" A burly man with a scruffy beard slammed his fist on the table.
"Vought only gives out five Golden Tickets a year. Those people who experienced twenty minutes of superpowers have spent the rest of their lives making a killing from online ads based on those twenty minutes of video. And now... it's for a lifetime!"
In the United States, in a typical American middle-class neighborhood.
A family of four sat around the dinner table. The father put down his knife and fork and looked at his two teenage sons opposite him.
"Listen, boys." The father's tone was more serious than ever before. "You're on the varsity football team, and your physical fitness is good. This is a chance to change our family's destiny."
"But Dad, my dream is to be a dentist..." the younger son said timidly.
"What dentist!" The mother slapped him on the head.
"Do you want to spend your whole life digging out other people's rotten teeth? Look at Homelander! Look at other heroes! Those are heroes worshipped by the whole World! I've already organized the information for both of you; we'll submit the application as soon as the official website goes live!"
Many families even entertained the idea of the whole family, young and old, joining the fray. From the sixty-year-old grandfather down to the month-old infant, as long as they were breathing, they wanted to try their luck.
But Vought International's registration process was by no means as simple as filling in a name and phone number.
...
New York, Vought Tower, Homelander's Office.
Homelander was staring thoughtfully at a huge holographic projection of Earth in the center of the office.
On the holographic projection, dense blue light points were distributed across the North American continent; those were the areas where Vought International's currently registered superheroes were stationed and active.
Looking at the rest of the globe, vast areas were in a vacuum state, with the light points representing heroes being pitifully sparse.
The reason he had created this grand Hero Academy was based on his own far-reaching considerations.
The original few hundred superheroes under Vought International were already stretched thin just covering the American mainland.
When a major emergency occurred, they often needed to pull heroes from other cities to put out the fire.
But times were different now.
Now was the era of the Great Human Federation, a vast territory covering a massive population of billions.
The current number of heroes Vought International had, when scattered among the global population of billions, wasn't even enough to fill the gaps between teeth.
More importantly, if the existing city heroes remained active only in the American mainland while people on other continents received no protection from superheroes, long-term favoritism would easily breed resentment. This was detrimental to the unity within the Galactic Human Federation and to his harvesting of global popularity.
Now that he had the terrigen crystals and the ability to mass-produce Superhumans, he had to get this superhero assembly line running quickly.
"Skynet, how is the screening mechanism coming along?"
Homelander looked at Skynet and asked.
"It's going online now, sir," Skynet began to report to Homelander.
"To obtain Vought's admission qualification, applicants must complete three steps."
"In the first round of preliminary screening, applicants must upload high-definition, unedited photos of themselves from all angles as required."
"Very good, physical appearance is the first threshold." Homelander nodded in satisfaction. "If you're ugly, you can't be a superhero; that's the rule."