At 4:20 in the morning, thanks to it being summer, the sky could not yet be called bright, but it was no longer so dark that nothing could be seen.
Terazumi Shinji lay on the dew-damp grass. This training ground was secluded; no other horse girls would come here to interfere with the training they were about to begin.
That was not necessarily a good thing in itself. In the world of horse girls, there were always things that defied common sense. One example was the bond trainers so often spoke of. When horse girls trained together, they could often achieve twice the result with half the effort. Whether it was suddenly grasping a new technique or experiencing a moment of instant enlightenment, such things often happened in the course of joint training.
Trainers could not summarize any clear pattern behind it, nor could they provide a convincing explanation.
But now that he had the system, Terazumi Shinji could.
His gaze drifted toward the direction of Tracen Academy's main gate. If one entered the academy from there and passed through three or four stretches of road, one would come upon the statue of the Three Goddesses standing at the center of a beautiful fountain.
That was the source of it all.
The techniques horse girls comprehended were skills, and those moments of sudden awakening were likewise manifestations of the Three Goddesses' power upon them.
They were the origin of the horse girls, leading them to break through their limits again and again.
At the thought of that, a mocking curve appeared at the corner of Shinji's lips.
Break through their limits.
What a grand phrase that was.
And yet the goddesses seemed to favor only those horse girls born with talent. Their divine absolute equality, once reflected in reality, instead became a form of unfairness. No matter how much effort one put in, the rewards were never equal. And so, naturally, hierarchies formed among horse girls, as harsh and distinct as the race-class system itself.
[But that has nothing to do with us anymore.]
Yeah.
The system had said as much when it first arrived: once the system was activated, any horse girl who became Terazumi Shinji's charge would effectively step onto an entirely different path.
They would no longer receive the blessings of the Three Goddesses.
Those flashes of inspiration gifted by the goddesses, those enormous improvements born from bonds, those moments of skill comprehension—all of them would disappear.
What they would have left was only themselves, and Terazumi Shinji.
And just the same, if they were ever to sever the trainer-horse girl relationship with Shinji, they would lose everything they had gained.
Shinji liked rules like that.
Horse girls naturally had the right to pursue their own path. By the same logic, Shinji also cared deeply about his own rights.
If they could not share in profit together, then he would rather they both be destroyed.
He sat up. Sunlight seemed ready to begin peeking over the horizon.
Open Offside Trap's panel.
The thought had barely formed when the system responded. A pale blue interface unfolded before him, covered in every statistic that belonged to Offside Trap.
[Horse Girl: Offside Trap
Condition: Excellent
Popularity: 4396
System Blessing: None
PT (used only to purchase skills): 0
Attribute Points: 0
Five Stats:
Speed 550 (970)
Stamina 523 (926)
Power 572 (1015)
Guts 674 (1132)
Wisdom 452 (993)
(Note: the values in parentheses indicate the theoretical attribute cap.)
Running Style Aptitude: Front E / Pace B / Late C / End E
Distance Aptitude: 1800m–2300m
Track Aptitude: Turf A / Dirt D
Skills:
Unyielding Wings Yearning for the Deep Sky (Unique), Lv. 3
[When horse girls near the front become locked in a melee on the final straight, and she has not yet entered a placing contest, speed increases and she is more likely to secure a good racing line.]
Level 1 Counterclockwise (Green)
[Slightly better at counterclockwise tracks.]
Lightning Stride (Yellow)
[When positioned near the back in mid-race, slightly less likely to be boxed in.]
Straightaway Adept (Yellow)
[Slightly increases speed on straight sections.]
Position Sense (Yellow)
[Slightly easier to secure a good line in the early stages of a race.]
Calm Under Pressure (Blue)
[When boxed in during mid-race, recovers a small amount of stamina.]
Domain: Unawakened
Rune: None
Special Status: Recently Recovered from Serious Illness
Equipped Gear: None
Better suited to Power and Guts training.]
This was the status panel of a horse girl who had already been active for nearly five years.
Looking at those stats—having only barely climbed above 500 after five long years—Shinji could not help but let out a long sigh.
Three separate bouts of tendonitis had utterly dragged this horse girl, who had once carried expectations after her debut, down into the dust.
Her pitifully few ordinary skills and her miserable popularity only proved how difficult and painful Offside Trap's career had been under the torment of injury.
G1-level talent, huh?
What surfaced in his mind was Narita Brian's gaze, full of expectation, and that determined tone that had clearly lacked real confidence, yet forced itself to sound firm.
This was, without question, an unfortunate generation.
Fuji Kiseki had sunk into two years of decline after failing in a G1 challenge, only regaining her dominance in graded races afterward. Sakura Laurel had suffered leg trouble after the Derby and was forced into a long layoff. Mayano Top Gun had crushed the field in the Naruo Kinen during her classic year, only to rupture a tendon and see it all end abruptly. Air Dublin had maintained the 3600-meter record, but two bouts of tendonitis ruined her career as well.
Matikane Teio? Wait—no. Different horse girls, same story.
Hokuto Vega was tormented by tendonitis and could do nothing but lose after returning. Sakura Bakushin O, who had shown astonishing closing speed in the Satsuki Sho, likewise left the track for good because of tendonitis. Had Sakura Laurel not finally overcome her injuries and bloomed late, then after Narita Brian's Arima Kinen, there would have been no more G1 victories at all for that generation.
And Offside Trap was merely one more name on that list of misfortune.
[So you really are still capable of sympathizing with horse girls, huh?]
The system's teasing voice—perhaps mixed with something more complicated—pulled Shinji out of his brief trance. He slowly pushed himself upright.
On the track before him were still the hoofprints Offside Trap had left during yesterday's training. The splashes of churned-up mud told the story of just how hard the horse girl had trained beneath that torrential rain.
[Pick a rune first…]
The system got no response. After a moment of silence, it spoke again, as though having thought of something.
[Since this is your first time really using the system's functions, I'll give you some suggestions—not just for Offside Trap's runes, but later on as well, such as when system blessings are triggered.]
All right.
As he answered, Shinji opened the Rune tab on Offside Trap's panel. At once, five runes appeared before him, each carved with its own distinct symbol.
[Each horse girl starts with five runes available for purchase. If none of the five suit you, you can spend 50 Emotion Energy to refresh one of them. Of course, after each race, all five runes will refresh automatically, so that's another option.]
What if there's a rune I want, but I don't have enough Emotion Energy?
[You can lock the rune list, and then it won't refresh after the race.]
The system's tone turned calm, the sort of tone it only used when it was being completely serious.
[You must be extremely cautious every time you equip a rune to a horse girl. Once equipped, a rune can only be destroyed. It cannot be removed or transferred to another horse girl. If a horse girl severs her relationship with you, the rune will become invalid and cannot be recovered.]
Shinji nodded. This was the very aspect of the system he found most satisfying.
It did place restrictions on him. It required him to care about, and pay attention to, the relationship between himself and his horse girl.
But at the same time, it also protected him. Any horse girl who gained tremendous power through him would have to pay an enormous price if she wanted to walk away.
[Look at the runes first.]
The system's voice drew Shinji's focus back to the five runes.
Their symbols looked neither like animals nor like written characters. They resembled childish doodles more than anything else, with no apparent pattern or structure.
[(Superstar) Shadow Without Shadow
[During a race, speed and speed cap increase slightly and continuously as stamina decreases.]
Cost: 1200 Emotion Energy]
[(Believer) (Reviver) Dawn Oath
[When running in the lead, the farther ahead the second-place runner is, the less stamina is consumed by running.]
Cost: 950 Emotion Energy]
[(Battle Maniac) (Territory Lord) Duel Master
[If a duel state is entered on the final straight, all attributes +15%.]
{Duel State: The participants have opened at least a two-length gap over the pack behind, clearly hold the advantage, and none of the duelists has an obvious upper hand.}
Cost: 550 Emotion Energy]
[(Personal Driver) (Mystic) Fleeting Swordshadow Bloom
[Within 1400m, Speed and actual speed are unaffected by any negative modifiers. After 1400m, all negative modifiers to Speed and actual speed are doubled.]
Cost: 400 Emotion Energy]
[(Territory Lord) (Groundkeeper) Otherworldly Flowing Shadow
[On good ground, for every 100 points in any attribute, all stats +1. On non-good ground, all stats +10%.]
Cost: 1000 Emotion Energy]
Perhaps once a product was clearly marked with a price, it became impossible not to look at the cost first.
Shinji had not even finished reading the effects of all the runes before the prices at the end stunned him, prompting an immediate complaint in his mind.
Are they all this expensive?
[Worth every point, I guarantee it.]
There was a hint of pride in the system's voice. Even from Shinji's extremely critical perspective, he had to admit that the effects were undeniably powerful.
Which one would you recommend? I don't understand any of these rune bonds at all.
Back when he first learned about the rune system, Shinji had asked to see the effects of all rune bonds, only to be told that he could not know what a rune bond did until he had actually purchased a related rune. Faced with these five runes now, he felt as though he were opening blind boxes, forced to guess the direction of the bond effects from the names alone.
[If you want my recommendation, then the fifth one. That rune suits Offside Trap better.]
As the system said that, it pulled up the descriptions for Territory Lord and Groundkeeper, as though trying to prove its point.
[Territory Lord: When everything returns to fundamentals, they will show what truly despair-inducing dominance looks like.]
[Groundkeeper: They are the guardians of the track. Guardians are not harmed by the track; they receive the track's favor.]
Return to fundamentals? Shinji frowned at the description for Territory Lord. In Offside Trap's current state, what fundamentals could she possibly have?
[No matter what, as a new host, I still recommend listening to the advice of an experienced system.]
The system offered no further explanation, giving Shinji every reason to suspect that it had simply set its sights on the hard-won Emotion Energy he had only just barely managed to gather.
Fine. I'll trust you.
He did not dwell on it. Shinji truly had no better idea. He felt that he would need to work with at least two or three horse girls before he could fully understand how to use the rune system on his own.
[Congratulations. You have successfully purchased one major rune. Without rune slots, the maximum number of major runes you can hold is five. Each time you purchase a major rune, it will come with three random minor runes. The effects of minor runes are random. After purchase, you may refresh the minor runes once. Standard minor runes correspond to one of the five core attributes, with a maximum value of 10. You may retain one minor rune when refreshing. Rare minor runes exist, and their values have no upper limit.]
Once Shinji confirmed the purchase, the system continued explaining the rune system.
[1000 Emotion Energy has been spent to purchase Otherworldly Flowing Shadow (Speed +10, Power +3, Wisdom +4). Would you like to refresh the minor runes?]
Keep the Speed one. Refresh the others.
[Refresh result: (Speed +10, Stamina +2, Inspiration +17)]
[The Rune tab has now unlocked the effects related to the Territory Lord and Groundkeeper bonds. Please review them at your convenience.]
After saying that, the system fell silent, as though the entire point of this morning's stream of chatter had merely been to coax Shinji into buying something.
But Shinji was already used to the system's sudden bouts of cold indifference.
It was probably like being in a relationship. If the other side suddenly stopped talking, he would just assume it was dead.
So he shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at the sun, which had finally begun to rise.
"Mr. Shinji!"
The voice came from outside the training ground. He had not even seen her yet, but he could already hear the expectation and excitement in it. Its owner sounded genuinely thrilled and happy that she now had a trainer.
Perhaps it was that lingering note of youth in her voice that moved him, because a trace of a smile appeared in his eyes as he watched the girl come to a stop before him, bright and lively.
"Trainer?"
The girl spoke hesitantly, testing the word.
"Have you eaten breakfast yet?"
Shinji answered her not with confirmation, but with a question.
His tacit acceptance made Offside Trap press her lips together, unable to stop the corners of her mouth from rising.
"I have."
The girl seemed faintly touched by his concern, a ripple stirring in her eyes.
That was good.
There seemed to be a hint of gentleness in the man's expression, and Offside Trap froze for a moment. She had never seen Terazumi Shinji wear such a mild expression before, even if it was only the slightest trace.
Trainer's in a good mood too.
Offside Trap took a deep breath. All the frustration and unwillingness she had carried for the past five years would now become the fuel for her new beginning. Together with her trainer, she would cast aside everything in the past and challenge fate itself.
She was just about to say more when her view was suddenly blocked by the bright phone screen that appeared before her eyes.
The large digits 05:02 stood out rather prominently.
"Congratulations. You're late."
"Eh?"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 126)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter134)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 87
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 79
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 73
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 49
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 45
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 45
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 31
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 27
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 26
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin