So they wanted to test her special skill.
It seemed Blazing Wind truly had no idea how she had obtained this ability.
Derek Su glanced back at Stella.
Stella gave a slight nod, carrying herself with the regal poise of an empress.
A mere Blazing Wind had no chance of competing with her for the throne.
After all, she was the supreme VIP who got to slip into Derek Su's bed every night and sleep right beside him.
…
Half an hour later.
The three of them arrived at the abandoned dock Mr. Xavier had taken over. It was usually watched by an elderly man who already knew Derek Su and his group well, so they were let through without question.
On the runway, Blazing Wind entered deployment mode.
Derek Su pulled open the car door and climbed inside.
Stella stood off to the side, watching with open curiosity.
It was her first time observing a Mecha Girl activating her skill at such close range.
But this ability was different from what she had imagined. Unlike the sudden surges of psychic energy other Mecha Girls unleashed, Blazing Wind's psychic fluctuations were gentle—like waves drifting with the wind—calm and soothing.
Derek Su felt the same.
[Hyper-Core Synchronization] was a passive skill. The moment he sat down and the cockpit door closed, it activated.
Creak, creak—
Several faintly glowing strands, like fiber-optic cables, extended from inside Blazing Wind's cockpit. They connected to the back of Derek Su's head, his forehead, and the nape of his neck. Some slipped beneath his racing suit and latched onto his spine.
As his hands settled onto the control sticks, the cockpit slowly reclined. Protective barriers rose on both sides like enclosing walls, forming something akin to a gaming pod.
"Wow~ This feels kind of cool," Derek Su said, lying back in the soft cockpit.
The Hyper-Core Synchronization hadn't fully kicked in yet, but the experience already felt completely different from piloting other Mecha Girls.
Driving Stella felt like streaking across the track at extreme speed, pure adrenaline pumping through his veins.
Driving Imperial Scale felt like returning home—solid, warm, an unbreakable shelter.
Tunbao… was harder to describe. Bouncy, noisy. If he had to drive Tunbao again, he'd better wear a noise-canceling helmet in advance, or that "Thousand Birds" would drive him straight into neurasthenia.
So what did driving Blazing Wind feel like?
Like lying in a cradle—fully protected from every angle, completely comfortable. He was practically half-reclining. The only downside was that he couldn't see the road.
And that was a serious problem.
Fortunately, the doubt didn't last long.
Buzz—
A tingling sensation spread from his spine to the back of his head.
He felt a faint current slip into his brain.
His vision went dark for an instant, then lit up again.
Now he could "see" the track—but from a lower angle than a driver's usual perspective.
He immediately understood.
This was Blazing Wind's point of view.
At the same time, the world became astonishingly detailed. It felt like upgrading from 1080p to 4K. His field of vision widened dramatically, and he could even make out textures on objects hundreds of meters away.
Eagle Eye.
The term surfaced in his mind.
"Boss, how does it feel? The skill is fully activated… ah!"
Blazing Wind's startled cry echoed in his mind.
"What's wrong, Blazing Wind?"
She went quiet for a moment, then spoke haltingly, as if enduring discomfort.
"My head is suddenly filled with racing knowledge and techniques… all of it… it's crammed in so tight, it feels like it's about to spill out…"
Tsk.
That line was really something.
Derek Su's lips twitched.
From what Blazing Wind said, it was clear that [Hyper-Core Synchronization] only temporarily shared racing-related knowledge and techniques—not memories.
Their mental networks filtered the data, extracting only racing-relevant information, processing it, and feeding it back into both minds.
Without that filtering, the massive flow of information would probably have reduced both of them to idiots.
Even so, the sheer volume of knowledge on Derek Su's side was overwhelming for Blazing Wind. She had to force herself to forget most of it immediately, or her head really would split apart.
Soon, Derek Su received the information from her side.
It was pitifully sparse—so underdeveloped it was almost primitive.
With this level of knowledge…
Passing the old driving test from his previous life would've been questionable at best.
It perfectly reflected how underdeveloped driving techniques were in this world. There wasn't even a mature system in place.
He suspected many drivers here simply relied on instinct.
That explained why so many applicants for coaching positions were unqualified.
These so-called coaches knew next to nothing. Ask them a few questions and they were completely lost. Most were just Mecha Girl drivers with some years under their belts, past their racing prime, drifting around in hopes of becoming instructors to earn a living.
It didn't pay as well as underground black-market races, but it was respectable and safe.
…
As their connection deepened,
Derek Su gradually lost awareness of his original body.
Or rather, he felt like he had gained a new one—Blazing Wind's chassis.
At this moment, he was the Mecha Girl.
The sensation was extraordinary.
Piloting a Mecha Girl already offered more immersion than driving an ordinary vehicle.
But that immersion was nothing compared to actually becoming the Mecha Girl.
It meant his control over Blazing Wind's body would be even more precise. Normally, a human mind couldn't fully command a Mecha Girl's capabilities.
Now, [Hyper-Core Synchronization] solved that limitation.
"Boss, can you tell me what you're feeling right now?"
Blazing Wind's headache had eased, and her voice sounded much lighter.
"All my senses are enhanced. My body too," Derek Su replied. "It feels like I could punch down a bull with one hit. I've got endless energy running through me. I was a little sleepy before, but now I'm completely awake. Clear-headed. Calm. Almost… weightless."
He wanted to say it felt like entering Sage Mode.
But Blazing Wind was too innocent. She probably wouldn't get the joke.
"So my special skill improves your mental stability and physical strength? Is that right?" she asked softly, hope flickering in her voice.
If her skill could strengthen a driver's body and mind, then maybe even Vanessa despite her illness, could drive her.
"Yes," Derek Su nodded. "Let's take a lap and see how it feels. And try your active skill too."
With that, he drove Blazing Wind around the track.
The most obvious change was that his mental reflexes—already sharpened from training with Stella—had multiplied several times over. His thinking speed surged. If he could handle ten calculations per second before, now he could process a hundred.
And when he activated "Bullet Time," it became even more impressive.
The passive skill enhanced thought speed.
But Bullet Time went beyond thought—it affected reality itself.
Both his actions and Blazing Wind's movements gained a kind of relative acceleration within that slowed environment.
Imagine this:
When others approached a corner, they had to proceed cautiously.
But driving Blazing Wind, caution wasn't nearly as necessary. The boosted processing speed allowed him to calculate the vehicle's state with precision, pinpoint the optimal cornering speed and braking point.
And even if a turn still seemed impossible, activating Bullet Time turned the world into slow motion.
In that instant, the number of possible responses multiplied dramatically.
"Another all-purpose baby car," Derek Su muttered with a sigh.
He tested it thoroughly. Together, they could use Bullet Time at most five times.
After that, Blazing Wind started complaining about a headache and couldn't activate it anymore.
And when her head hurt, he felt it too.
Under [Hyper-Core Synchronization], their sensations were interconnected.
…
Test complete.
With Derek Su's help, Blazing Wind now had a much clearer understanding of her special skill.
Standing before Derek Su and Stella, she could hardly contain her excitement.
Finally, she voiced what she had been holding back all along.
"Boss… do you think my special skill could let Vanessa race on the track?"
...
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