After Special Week's debut race, everyone's training was in full swing, especially after March, when the ban on Zero was completely lifted.
Now, she was naturally training for the Osaka Hai.
Having confidence is one thing, but not taking opponents seriously is arrogance. Originally, she might have encountered Narita Brian, who had also activated her domain and even maintained it constantly, but because her domain caused significant damage to her body, after a period of recovery, she planned to participate in the G2 Hanshin Daishoten instead of the Osaka Hai.
However, it was certain that if she could win the Hanshin Daishoten, then encountering her in the Tenno Sho was an absolute certainty. Tojo Hana had originally planned for her to retire after this race, but to accommodate her feelings, she decided to let her continue running for now. If she could win, she would continue, and then retire at the end of this year.
However, Heavy Gun's participation in the Tenno Sho was a foregone conclusion, which was why the Three Goddesses initially only said there was a possibility of encountering Heavy Gun.
After all, between Heavy Gun, who hadn't fully activated her domain but was in excellent physical condition, and Narita Brian, who had fully activated her domain but was recovering from an injury, no one could say for sure who the victor would be.
If Shiro Hito won, she would face two strong opponents in the Tenno Sho. If Heavy Gun won that race, it would most likely be Shiro Hito's last race before retirement.
However, none of this prevented her from treating these two as imaginary enemies.
Other Uma Musume were certainly worth paying attention to, but corresponding measures were already prepared. The key lay in the domains possessed by these two.
A domain is, after all, a manifestation of one's own mind and will, so unless one experiences it firsthand, one will never understand its effects.
In other words, even she, who could directly see an Uma Musume's data, would face an opponent that was to a certain extent [unknown] when confronting these two.
She actually knew Heavy Gun, as the two had run a few races together. However, Heavy Gun hadn't activated her domain back then, and even in the Arima Kinen at the end of last year, she couldn't unleash much of her strength, apparently because she played a game called "The Last of Us Part II" and was in a bad mood, leading to poor sleep.
It was quite well-known that Heavy Gun's performance in races depended entirely on her mood. As a result, her fans treated her like a precious ancestor, only hoping she would sleep well and avoid any accidents.
Without further ado, Zero was currently standing in the starting gate, building up her momentum.
Although she had frequently entered the starting gate during this period, those were mostly for training. However, it had been a long time since she had done a simulated training with the goal of "starting a race" like this.
The Spring Triple Crown was the first step of her goal this year, so she naturally couldn't take it lightly. She had to give her Whole Heart and Soul for victory.
What's more, there were quite a few juniors this time. She had to put on a good show to make these disrespectful youngsters respect her status as a senior instead of hugging her all the time!
Especially Tokai Teio! Taking advantage of being a few centimeters taller than her, she even said, "Z-chan is so cute and small!" She had noted this grudge; she would definitely get her back later.
"Hmph..."
At this moment, she was the only one in her Hometown. The three assistant coaches went shopping today, Alice Digital went to meet her editor to submit her manuscript and discuss the direction of the upcoming plot, and the members of Spica would only arrive in the afternoon.
The rare silence made her a little unaccustomed, even though she had come alone just a month ago.
But it's okay, she didn't need to think about those things now. What she needed to consider were her opponents.
Although she couldn't simulate a domain, it was still possible to simply simulate a 'plus' version of Shiro Hito and Heavy Gun in her mind.
Only in Zero's eyes, the images of Narita Brian and Maya Heavy Gun appeared in two other starting gates.
It can begin.
Pressing the button, the countdown began.
The countdown ended, and the gates opened.
They galloped out almost simultaneously.
[Focus]
This time was for the Osaka Hai, so she naturally chose the same 2000m distance as the Osaka Hai, and a terrain similar to the Hanshin Racecourse with a right-hand turn track.
The biggest feature of the Hanshin Racecourse's 2000m is a relatively steep downhill at the start, followed by an uphill with a larger gradient. If one is not good at slopes, an accident can easily occur here.
And at this moment, it was naturally a similar downhill slope.
She was currently in the lead, using the escape strategy, followed by Heavy Gun, then Shiro Hito.
In terms of running style, Shiro Hito was fine, but Heavy Gun was indeed a difficult opponent. Heavy Gun also contributed significantly to her current versatile running style.
If Alice Digital was an all-rounder regardless of the track, then Heavy Gun was an all-rounder regardless of running style. No matter what position she was squeezed into during a race, she could come up with a corresponding strategy to deal with it, which gave her a lot of inspiration.
Because of this, she was currently running in the lead, but in the middle stage, she might intentionally slow down to conserve stamina and switch to a chasing style, or even a more extreme deep-chasing style.
She might even switch to an escape style, looking for an opportunity to snatch her leading position.
However, on flat ground, it would be fine, but in this kind of place, it was absolutely impossible.
Within a few seconds, she reached the initial steep downhill.
[Decisive Straight Descent]
[Courageous Stride]
Accelerating frantically on the downhill was why some people called her a [madwoman].
No Uma Musume dared to increase their speed to that extent on a downhill, even knowing that the downhill was the best place to create distance. Once you fall at that speed in such a place, you might lose not only your career but also your life.
But she wouldn't, or rather, she wouldn't anymore.
The mottled bloodstains on the stones and even the trees around the steep slope in her Hometown were the tuition fees paid for her current uninhibited gallop on the racecourse.
And for an escape runner, it's the ideal rhythm when others slow down and she speeds up in the early stages.
After descending the downhill, she naturally faced an uphill slope whose gradient was only slightly better than the previous downhill.
[Climbing Peaks]
[Stallion Girl]
A familiar uphill, and reduced stamina consumption during the uphill.
The skills activated at this point had reached a total of five, but compared to the overall situation, this consumption was completely acceptable.
The distance opened up was already considerable, and the race had entered the middle stage.
Should she continue to open up the distance?
Her ears twitched, roughly judging the distance difference between the two by their footsteps and breathing.
If she could open up the distance at this moment, and then maintain the advantage with [Pioneer's Insight], while recovering stamina with some blue skills, and finally accelerating again with acceleration skills in the final stage, this would be a perfect rhythm, but... they also had many skills.
When simulating the two in her mind, she naturally added some skills that the opponents might have already learned, and even gave them some skills they might not necessarily have. This meant that neither of them could be judged by common sense.
Especially as imaginary figures, the two would naturally not get tired, like machines that would use specific skills at specific times.
The rhythm she had just thought of was indeed perfect, but doing so would mean that the number of skills she could use in the final stage would decrease. If she only used blue skills to recover and conserve stamina at this moment, she would have more options in the final stage.
Only the one who crosses the finish line is the winner. Any advantage before crossing the finish line is illusory. If you don't win, opening up a hundred horse lengths at the start is meaningless.
Although no one would actually do that.
The great escape also has its own running style. If one just runs mindlessly, they will only lose speed due to insufficient stamina and hand over the championship.
So the choice at this moment is naturally... to conserve stamina!
Slightly adjust her breathing rhythm, but the speed of her feet cannot slow down.
After all, the distance opened up still needs to be maintained. For the great escape running style, nothing is more important than controlling the distance well.
When they slightly entered the middle stage, Shiro Hito and Heavy Gun attacked together.
Maya Heavy Gun [Re-Ignite] [Swift and Decisive]
Narita Brian [Indomitable Spirit] [Here She Comes]
Narita Brian overtook Maya Heavy Gun and began to accelerate, and Heavy Gun also immediately began to accelerate the moment she fell behind, starting to close the distance with Zero.
To reiterate, skills are not inconvenient things that can only be used at specific distances, terrains, or even running styles like in games. These are all just techniques.
The ten horse lengths of distance that had been opened up were constantly shrinking, and the race was now approaching the fourth bend, which was the final bend.
It's not over yet.
Narita Brian [Torrential Pursuit] [Outside Lane Preparation]
Maya Heavy Gun [Good at Changing Pace]
At this point, Narita Brian had already reached the outside lane, and even... Narita Brian [Shadow Break]
She unleashed her exclusive skill.
And Heavy Gun was not to be outdone.
[Flash ☆ Landing]
Both were skills for breaking through in the final bend. At this point, Shiro Hito's gap with Zero on the outside lane had narrowed to a threatening degree.
[Escapist]
Naturally, it couldn't be as they wished. She had to open up the distance again and enter the final straight as quickly as possible.
The struggle on the final bend is always intense, to what extent... Zero, Narita Brian, Maya Heavy Gun [Arc Professor] [Curve Sommelier]
Roughly like this, some techniques are not difficult to learn, not to mention that all three are geniuses, so these types of skills had naturally been learned long ago.
However, Zero still had to expend a little more mental energy.
[Arc Master: Recover stamina on bends]
The final bend, while not short, wasn't long either.
Soon, they entered the final straight.
All three: [Whole Heart and Soul] [Swift Wind] [Gust of Wind] [Middle Distance Straight]
They all held back until the very end, just to win with absolute speed advantage at the last moment, which was incredibly insane.
Since her opponents were merely phantoms she imagined, the suppression effect of the domain would not take effect, but she still had to activate it once.
This was also one of the purposes of this training: after her body had fully recovered, to formally activate her domain and experience its effects, otherwise it would be laughable if the driver couldn't adapt to the overly powerful machine when the time came.
[In the Name of Absolute]
[Zettai Shinsoku]
When she decided to use this skill, she felt all the power in her body increasing.
The sound of chains breaking echoed in her mind; they were the shackles that had bound her.
Under the protection of her Domain, she could unleash her speed without any reservations.
She stomped heavily on the track, and the two simulated opponents had already vanished, but that wasn't a reason for her to stop; she absolutely couldn't stop.
A fierce wind swept across the track, and dark purple lightning flickered in her eyes.
Beep—
As she crossed the finish line, the recorder faithfully performed its duty, logging the time from the gate opening to the finish line.
1 minute 48 seconds.
If this were in her original world, it would probably drive Uma Musume fans wild.
But thinking about unscientific things like Domains, it didn't seem too strange.
The 2000m Osaka Hai simulated track ended here; although the result was excellent, the situation was still not optimistic, as she had been unfamiliar with controlling her Domain just now, and because of this, there were areas for improvement in timing when activating her Domain.
Especially since her Domain seemed to be able to prevent accidents in this race, could she find a way to activate it from the start?
Activating her Domain provided a partial stamina recovery, so it wasn't impossible to use it as a blue skill. The key lay in the timing of activation, because even maintaining the Domain consumed her mental energy. Although she still had reserves now, it was uncertain if that would be the case in an intense race.
Moreover, both of those opponents were likely to be encountered in the Tenno Sho, and the Tenno Sho was not a 2000m track like the Osaka Hai; it was a full 3200m distance.
However, her current goal was still the Osaka Hai, so it was better to focus on practicing for it first. While having foresight was good, she couldn't forget the present.
In a positive sense, 'reaching for the stars' means having foresight; in a negative sense, it means being thoughtless ( ).
However, after a simple test of her Domain, she also needed to rest a bit, as she still had to train them in the afternoon and cook for the foodie group at night, which was not an easy task.
Speaking of which, since the Domain consumed mental energy, could she use it to put them through pressure training? It could both improve their endurance and mental fortitude, and also enhance her own control over the Domain. She'd ask the two grey-haired ones when they returned later.
With some time before noon, Ling took out her phone and looked up the specific details of this Osaka Hai.
Potential opponents for this Osaka Hai... ah, Air Groove again... Her eye twitched. Thinking of that woman who usually looked serious but actually had a bit of a girlish heart, a trace of guilt inevitably arose in Ling's heart.
Sorry, I'm back to stab you in the back again, but this will definitely be the last time... ah, she's also participating in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) ( ).
That being said, in the actual race, it would naturally come down to performance, and she wouldn't hold back out of guilt for repeatedly backstabbing her opponent.
Ah, and Hishi Amazon... why was she withdrawn?
She later found out that Hishi Amazon was in intense remedial classes because she had failed her diagnostic test shortly after school started.
She could already imagine Fuji Kiseki and Narita Brian sarcastically making snide remarks to Amazon.
It seems the Student Council is still peaceful today?
On the other side... "By the way, Air Groove, do you speak Chinese?" Rudolph suddenly asked the Vice President beside her.
"A little, why?"
"It's like this: do you remember when I went on a business trip there some time ago to communicate with the Uma Musume Association there?"
"Yes, it was at the end of November last year."
"Hmm, it was snowing there at the time, and the roads were all icy and very slippery. I deliberately rode a bicycle to experience it and almost fell."
"Eh!? That dangerous!? Were you alright?"
"It's fine, as an Uma Musume, my reactions are still very fast. I grabbed the handle firmly with one hand." Rudolph said in Chinese with a smile.
"..."
Air Groove: Rei Bo, where are you? Come save me... P.S.: I just revised the sensitive words and such, but the page inexplicably refreshed, and I have to start over. And those sensitive words need to be changed again, it's quite absurd.