Garden Gale looked straight at the system panel.
[Bond Level with Tokai Teio has surpassed 75%—!]
[Critical Threshold Breached!]
[Reward]:Sky-High Teio Step!
Garden Gale's body jolted.
…What?
Wait—she hadn't misread that, right!? Sky-High Teio Step as a reward skill? That was Tokai Teio's ultimate weapon! Even Teio's trump card had been stolen—no, learned by her!? And this was only at 75% bond! Three-quarters in, and she'd already gotten the root skill—then what on earth was left for the final quarter!?
Garden Gale was intensely curious.
Thinking that....
A smile spread across her face. A genuinely happy one.
If that was the case… didn't this completely patch up her weakness in the final spurt? Her late kick before had looked good—pleasing to the eye, even—but technique was technique, speed was speed. If raw speed didn't come up, it was still a fatal flaw.
But now—
If she had Sky-High Teio Step, then all those problems would disappear at once.
…Isn't this cheat way too broken!?
Sure, she was a weak Umamusume—but the cheat was insane. Garden Gale grinned.
She was confident.
With Sky-High Teio Step, even Admire Vega could be beaten—easy mode.
Without realizing it, she was getting cocky again.
Riding that rush of joy—Garden Gale opened the [Sky-High Teio Step] skill page directly.
In the next instant—
She froze.
A heartbeat later, all expression drained from her face. The excitement, the grin, the emotional high—everything vanished. In less than ten seconds, she experienced the full rise and fall of human joy and sorrow, all because of the three words written in parentheses after the skill name.
(Sealed)
—Yes. Exactly that.
[Sky-High Teio Step (Sealed)]:A root skill derived from Tokai Teio. Through relentless refinement, supreme center-of-gravity control, and inhuman flexibility, Teio awakened this ultimate final-spurt dash known as Sky-High Teio Step!
[Notice]:Host's physical attributes are insufficient—unable to unleash Sky-High Teio Step. Skill is temporarily sealed.
For a moment—
There was only silence.
Garden Gale was completely stunned.
This felt like pulling a god-tier legendary in a game, only for the GM to tell you, 'Sorry, you can't equip this yet—come back in a later patch.' Like getting a level-50 Dragon Slayer Sword at level 5.
Seriously. Who understands this pain.
…She shrugged helplessly.
Still, it wasn't the worst outcome.
So as long as my physical stats meet the requirements, I can use Sky-High Teio Step… right?
She asked silently. One nice thing about the Selas System was that it actually responded, giving her clear feedback and answers.
[Correct.]
[With the host's current physical attributes… Sky-High Teio Step cannot be replicated.]
[In other words: when the host's Speed and Stamina both reach 500, Sky-High Teio Step will automatically unlock.]
[Additionally—when Speed and Stamina reach 500, the host will automatically gain one Reincarnation Count, with Tokai Teio set as the Reincarnation Target.]
…The Selas System responded.
Garden Gale thought to herself that this system really did love handing out surprise bonuses. Reaching 500 Speed and Stamina wouldn't just unlock Sky-High Teio Step—it would also trigger a Reincarnation with Tokai Teio.
And once the system had laid everything out in raw numbers—
She suddenly remembered something.
Right.
She'd almost forgotten about her stat screen.
So—
She opened the status panel again.
[GARDEN GALE]
[Speed]: 342 (D)
[Stamina]: 299 (E+)
[Power]: 278 (E+)
[Guts]: 310 (D)
[Wisdom]: 300 (D)
[SKILLS]:
[Flexible Bones]
[Turbo Sprint]
[Center of Gravity Control]
[A Prodigy's Intuition]
[Sky-High Teio Step (Sealed)]
[Chameleon (Golden Skill · Infinite Adaptation · Sealed)]
[Equipped Medal of a Hundred Battles: Amplified Title — Throne of the King]
She could practically recite her skill list like a menu now…but having six skills with two of them sealed was still enough to make anyone feel a bit hollow inside.
If she needed 500 to unlock Sky-High Teio Step...
Garden Gale bit down on her nail, thinking. She was still pretty far off. But that was fine. No complicated emotions—just one clear thought:
So this is the benchmark.
For the time being, she'd push Speed and Stamina to 500 as fast as possible. As long as she could activate Sky-High Teio Step and trigger another Reincarnation, she'd be unstoppable.
"Why're you smiling like that?" Air Shakur leaned over and asked. "What happened?"
"Ah!" Garden Gale snapped back to reality and replied quickly, "Nothing~ I was just thinking about how seriously Teio-san is filming… kind of like how I was earlier."
It was a boring answer.
Air Shakur immediately lost interest, leaning back with a shrug.
DJing sounded more fun.
"Hey, next time, wanna go DJing together?" she asked casually.
Garden Gale blinked.
A moment later, she realized Shakur was talking to her. But… DJ? What was that?
Her puzzled gaze met Air Shakur's, and Shakur instantly got it. She laughed, flashing her shark teeth. "DJ means records, clubs, turntables—mixing tracks, you know~"
"Speaking of which, I even got an invite the other day to help test a RAP project beta."
Garden Gale was still completely lost.
That blank expression—she genuinely didn't understand. As a socially anxious honors student, this kind of world was totally foreign to her.
Even though her profile listed Juice WRLD.
"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't get it." Air Shakur laughed, not mocking, just fond. "I'll take you sometime. It's fun."
In the end the ramen shop outing wrapped up with Tokai Teio successfully finishing the shoot for Fine Motion.
And Garden Gale returned alone to Tracen Academy.
…
Late that night.
Back in the dorm—
The bed beside hers was still empty.
Garden Gale idly rubbed her phone screen, staring at the profile image on her social feed.
Admire Vega.
I'll beat you.
She thought.
At the Wakagoma Stakes.
The goal had been set—both the opponent she had to defeat and the skills she needed to hone.
All that was left—
Was effort.
After all, Umamusume were heroes who spilled their sweat on the track.
---
T/N: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOO IT WASNT SKY HIGH TEIO STEP BEFORE :SOB: IM CRINE okay ill go back and edit it when i get the chance, ill probably change it to a standard skill or golden one wait hmm id ont remeber... i did use sky high teio step but was that the one time use thing like narita road to glory? guasbasunfaskn too much thinking i give up, uinless someone comments stuff