On the way back to the dorms, Teruizumi Shinji finally found a chance to stretch lazily.
Back in the team room, his partner horse girls had all been sitting a little too close. Even he had felt awkward about it, and had not dared to spread his arms too wide, in case anyone got the wrong idea.
Behind him, the room was still brightly lit.
Shinji had no idea what the three of them were talking about in there right now, but one thing he was sure of was that none of them had really wanted him to leave.
[Obviously. The negative emotion prompts have been popping nonstop, even if it's only bit by bit.]
The system sounded utterly unimpressed, as if Shinji were shamelessly pretending not to notice while benefiting from it all the same.
By now, Shinji was already used to the system's sarcasm.
It was just jealous, that was all.
At the start, it had helped him come up with plans and ideas, but lately it had become all but useless whenever he asked direct questions, dodging everything and making him figure things out on his own.
And that absurd shop of its—
To this day, Shinji had never properly gone through it. Every time he asked if there was anything especially worth buying, the system would change the subject. That shop was so vast that even mindlessly scrolling downward never reached the bottom. If he really tried to examine every item one by one, he suspected he could go without food or drink until the day he died and still not finish.
"System, let's open all the rewards tonight, all right?"
He wanted to sort through every bundle he had picked up recently. Each of his three partner horse girls now had her own plans and trajectory ahead, and he knew he needed to prepare properly for their development.
[Go ahead.]
The system answered indifferently, sounding genuinely puzzled as to why Shinji would ask for its opinion in the first place.
"I'm actually kind of curious. That 'Three Goddesses Energy Reclamation Bundle'… you weren't the one who made that up, were you?"
He was strangely hopeful about that one.
This system had been needling him nonstop lately, so if it had secretly put together a special reward bundle just for him, he might actually feel touched.
[Don't flatter yourself. Reward bundles were all preset from the start. Don't imagine I care about you that much.]
The system snorted like it had just heard the funniest joke in the world. But after saying that, it seemed to feel the need to patch things up a little.
[Though I have treated you pretty well.]
"Mm-hm."
He did not deny it.
Without the system's help at the beginning, Overrun Trap would never have achieved what she had today, let alone grown this strong.
Even with a system in hand, if he had started off in the wrong direction and simply blundered forward, Shinji had no idea how many detours he would have had to take.
He finally arrived back at the dorms, and only then did he realize how tired he actually was.
On the surface, it had not seemed like he had done much today, but Narita Brian's joining the team had stirred up far too many thoughts. Even after washing up and sitting down on his bed, part of his mind was still caught on the things she had said—on Sanshou Drum's betrayal, and on Brian's insistence that the two of them were the same kind of person.
It was precisely because both were real that the collision between them had left such a deep mark.
He let out a long breath at last, then finally forced himself to focus fully on the reward bundles laid out by the system.
Of the three, the one he was most excited about was obviously the one tied to the Three Goddesses. Still, after only a brief moment of thought, he chose to open the Partner Horse Girl Bundle first.
[Emotion Energy +200]
[Attribute Points +10]
[PT +90]
The first three rewards were identical to the previous Partner Horse Girl Bundle, which made Shinji realize that these bundles probably followed a fixed template.
That only made him look forward even more to the final item.
It was a small bottle of blood-red liquid.
This was the first time he had ever gotten an item from the system that looked like this, which only made him more curious.
[Trace of Apex Blood
An item that fully stimulates the latent potential in a horse girl's bloodline. The effect may be astonishingly powerful—or almost negligible.
Usage: apply beneath the center of the eyes, extending downward along the face.]
"Hm?"
Shinji's first thought was that this looked perfect for children from elite bloodlines.
Since it drew out bloodline potential, girls from prestigious racing families were clearly more likely to awaken extraordinary power from it.
[Feels like it would work even better on girls born from two horse-girl parents~]
This time, however, Shinji did not quite agree with the system.
More bloodlines did not necessarily mean better results. If the item was about drawing out bloodline potential, then what mattered was purity and quality, not quantity.
"It should be good for Saintly Halo. No matter what, Farewell Halo is still a seven-G1 horse girl—same as Rudolf Symbol."
Thinking that over, he found the idea increasingly appealing.
He had no way of knowing how much of her mother's talent Saintly Halo might recover through it, but there was no question that her current ability fell far short of Farewell Halo's.
"Next, let's open the team reward bundle."
Rubbing his hands together, Shinji took a deep breath and adjusted his mood.
The system seemed amused by his theatrics, letting out a laugh before its tone finally turned serious.
[Emotion Energy +1300]
[PT +720]
[Attribute Points +100]
[Banner of Dreams
Each horse girl may carry at most one banner.
Effect: grants one additional rune slot; Intelligence +50; Willpower -10.]
As expected of a bundle generated from forming a team, the rewards were outrageously generous.
Even though Shinji had anticipated something good, he still had not expected the numbers and the equipment to be this lavish.
Especially rune slots.
Since activating the system, he had only come across a rune slot once before. Back then, emotion energy had been too scarce, and he had been unable to afford it. He could only watch helplessly as that opportunity slipped past him.
At the time, he had comforted himself by thinking that the Warlord-type bond set did not require him to worry too much about running out of slots. But no matter what, he had still felt a little regret.
At least now he had one in reserve.
If the need arose, he would not be left empty-handed.
He nodded in satisfaction and turned his attention to the last bundle.
From the very first moment the system had started talking to him, Shinji had always been able to sense—whether through its tone or its offhand comments—that it absolutely did not get along with the Three Goddesses.
It was not that the system had some direct grudge or conflict with them. Shinji felt it was more a matter of principles.
And to be honest, he himself did not agree much with the Three Goddesses' philosophy either.
Blessings that should have brought hope always seemed to favor those who were already fortunate. The naturally gifted always received more, while the less gifted never found a path forward. No matter how much effort they poured in, they could only watch as geniuses pulled farther and farther away.
That was probably one of life's unavoidable tragedies.
It was also the very reason Shinji had stubbornly insisted, when he first debuted as a trainer, on taking Sanshou Drum all the way toward a G1 challenge.
His eyes shone with expectation.
He had a feeling that, from a system like this, a bundle like this might finally yield something truly good.
[Believer's Crest
Believer bond +1
Small Rune: Speed +7, Stamina +7, Intelligence +7]
[Crude Doll
A doll personally made by a witch. Its hideously ugly face seems to have been deliberately carved out of envy toward someone. Used to purchase Witch Authorities.
(Deep Abyss Chanter, Believer, Secret Artificer-related item.)]
"Oh?"
A crest alone would already have made him very satisfied, but the second item immediately left him puzzled.
He pointed at the doll, which was ugly enough to make his eyes hurt.
Its face looked vaguely familiar—so familiar that he felt he should recognize it—but it was crafted so badly that he could not place it.
"What is this?"
[An item used to purchase Witch Authorities.]
That answered absolutely nothing.
From the unmistakable snickering in the system's voice, Shinji could tell it had no intention of explaining further, so he did not bother asking again.
At this point, he had finally survived the lean early days when he had possessed nothing.
Now that his reserves were growing fuller, he had much more room to maneuver.
In the darkness of the room, his eyes gleamed in the moonlight.
He leaned back and stared up at the white ceiling, still visible even in the dimness, and narrowed his eyes slightly.
He had already drawn up preliminary training plans for all three of his partner horse girls, but he still needed to do one final pass and organize tomorrow's sessions properly.
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 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 138)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter155)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter98)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter172)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 158
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 144
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 100
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 165
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 140
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 120
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 69
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 90
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 95
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 70
Uma Musume: I Want All 80
I Can Copy Unique Skills 65
Summoning an Evil God, but the 52
Supernatural Multiverse 65
My Harem Is Indescribable 50
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 55
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 40
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 50
Still playing traditional Honk 30
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