Tokai Teio's performance was steadily improving. With the shoes' buff, her training efficiency had noticeably increased. However, for some reason, Tokai Teio would always come with her original sneakers. Even when Luo Cheng told her to wear the race shoes, she wouldn't listen. In the end, Luo Cheng had to put them on for her every day. When he did so, Tokai Teio's feet would be so uncooperative, wiggling around and stepping on Luo Cheng's face several times. She would hook his lips with her soft toes and gently pull on his face, a faint smile on her lips.
This was a game world, yet Tokai Teio showed an ability far beyond others in this regard. There was something odd about it. Besides this, Teio was also a little different from the others in the heart icon representing her affection. Normal horse girls, even at their peak, would have a pink heart. However, Teio's was a deep red. At first, Teio's heart wasn't this color, but as the number of interactions increased, the color deepened. Luo Cheng didn't know if this was the final stage; it might get even darker in the future.
But as the saying goes, he would think about tomorrow's problems tomorrow. Luo Cheng had learned to live in the moment. Aside from the tasks, he had given up on thinking about other things. The less he thought, the happier he was. Who knew if tomorrow would be worse? What's more, Teio's feet smelled wonderful, and he didn't mind.
Meanwhile, the stat improvements of the other horse girls were a bit worrying. They only improved by a tiny bit each day. Luo Cheng guessed that it wasn't their time to shine yet, which was why their improvements were so pitiful. In the horse girl world, this would be their "period of high-speed growth" had not yet arrived, so their improvement was limited.
But Luo Cheng had a great idea: he could give Teio's shoes to the others and let the shoes' stats help them improve. Luo Cheng tried it and found that it worked. However, after giving the shoes away, Teio's mood would instantly drop to its lowest point, and even petting her head wouldn't fix it. Only when Luo Cheng put the shoes back on her and patted her head would Tokai Teio's mood slowly start to recover.
It was clear that if he gave Teio's shoes to someone else, Teio would be a lost cause. That item had become exclusive to Teio. The next time he went back to the real world, Luo Cheng would buy a pair of shoes for everyone. Once he brought his team to its peak performance, he wouldn't have to be on edge during races.
Following this line of thought, Luo Cheng realized that it wasn't just shoes. Other items like clothes, socks, bracelets, and leg rings might also have special effects, and they might even be more powerful than the shoes, adding a lot of stats to the horse girls. Thinking about this, Luo Cheng finally felt motivated. He finally had the feeling of nurturing something. The point of a game was to enjoy the growth of stats, and Luo Cheng didn't want the only thing he was improving in this game world to be his affection level.
Being a cool guy was a lifelong endeavor.
"Alright, that's enough training for today!" Luo Cheng said to his horse girls. Their green stamina bars were almost depleted. If they continued training, their mood would drop, and there would be a risk of them getting sick. Luo Cheng was always very careful about this. Teio had barely been injured. The most serious one was a sprain that lasted for one day. He could see negative statuses and their duration on his UI. Once the duration was over, the injury would heal. Forcing them to train with an injury would increase the duration, and the training would be less effective.
"Go back and get some rest. We'll continue tomorrow." Even though he knew these words were useless, Luo Cheng had to say them. If he always kept his thoughts to himself like a mute, his mood would also drop. Humans needed to vent.
The horse girls all said, "Yes!" and walked toward the dorms. Luo Cheng, on the other hand, went to the gym. He was going to work out. Unfortunately, there were no miracle drugs at Tracen to strengthen his body, so he had to rely on this method to grow. Luo Cheng hoped that his stamina would grow to a point where even if a horse girl approached him, he could take control. A person always had to have dreams. He was going to be the first man to conquer a horse girl with his stamina.
Arriving at the gym, Luo Cheng started his warm-up. He lifted the barbell, and after one set, he started to sweat, his body feeling better and better. At that moment, a six-ring barbell next to him was lifted with one hand. Luo Cheng turned his head and saw a horse girl with long black hair and orange eyes, filled with a wild aura: Narita Brian. Her slender arm showed an astonishing strength, lifting the six-ring barbell with one hand. Every time Luo Cheng saw this, his face would twitch. It felt like a horse girl lifting a grown man was no different than lifting a tiny chick.
"Good morning, Brian."
"Good morning, Trainer," Narita Brian said casually, in a typical greeting. She would come at this time every day and work out for two hours. This was Narita Brian's habit, and she would do it even if no one told her to. She had also become Luo Cheng's personal trainer. Luo Cheng would sit next to her and watch her lifting. Compared to an amateur like him, a horse girl's movements were clearly more standard.
Soon, Narita Brian's body warmed up. Water vapor rose from her body, and sweat streamed down her forehead, cheeks, and neck. Narita Brian took off her top, revealing the black sports bra that wrapped her impressive chest and the beautiful, slender curves of her stomach beneath. Horse girls were different from humans; their muscles were very soft. No matter how much they trained, it was hard to get defined muscles. Most horse girls Luo Cheng had seen were like this, but Narita Brian's curves were much more defined than the others. Anyone who liked muscular girls would be completely captivated by Narita Brian.
Putting down the dumbbells, Narita Brian looked for a towel. Luo Cheng handed it to her. Narita Brian looked at it for a few seconds and then stood still. Seeing that she didn't react for a while, Luo Cheng took it upon himself to wipe her down, from her forehead to her stomach. A very strong smell of sweat emanated from her body, completely overpowering her original scent.
After wiping her body clean, Narita Brian's face was flushed, and she gasped for air, her yellow eyes dazed for a moment.
"The next... next set..." Her voice was a little shaky, and she started doing sit-ups. After three sets, Narita Brian stopped and turned her head. "Where... did I put my towel?"
Luo Cheng walked over and wiped her body again. This time, Narita Brian turned her back and lifted her arm, revealing her clean armpit. Mixed with the sweat, a new scent filled the air.