Garden Gale opened the Selas System panel on the spot.
[Sonic Blast LV.2]
[Description]:A "weapon" derived from Air Shakur—an extremely unusual acceleration ability that slightly boosts the host's burst.
[Rhythm Rule]
[Description]: The sun rises and sets; day and night repeat. All of it is simply fate within the rules—and running is the same. When the host falls into the rhythm of the rules, a cadence naturally arises, strengthening all attributes across the board—everything is merely the product of data calculation… —Air Shakur.
—[Template Unlocked]:AIR SHAKUR
Not bad.
Those two skills really were solid—Garden Gale thought.
And… after unlocking two skills, she'd even unlocked the Air Shakur template. It didn't need much explanation. It was basically a "color-change target." If she had to give an example—like Neeko in League of Legends: if Neeko wants to become someone, she has to pick a target first, and only then can she copy them completely.
So…
Unlocking that template meant Garden Gale now had the initial ability to imitate Air Shakur.
That was crucial. It was the second running style she'd learned—and there were things she wanted to test, urgently.
She closed the panel.
Looking at it now, she really had a lot of skills. Tokai Teio was the biggest haul—she'd even copied Teio's step, no need to mention it. Then there was Curren Chan, and now Air Shakur, plus that one-time color-change [Road to Glory · Iron Will].
At this rate, she might have to stack buffs before she even ran.
Like an MMO status bar filled to the brim.
The mental image nearly made Garden Gale laugh. She stretched with a light, easy smile on her face, feeling genuinely relaxed.
Time to train. Time to get stronger.
Her goal was locked in—this time, no matter what, she wasn't backing down. She'd promised. Garden Gale was deeply grateful to Air Shakur for helping her set that anchor, for telling her not to retreat, for showing her the world could be beautiful and gentle… Who would've thought someone with such a delinquent exterior had a heart that delicate?
Boldly move forward.
Don't look back.
There wasn't much time left until the Wakagoma Stakes…
She had to get stronger—fast.
And with that thought came a fresh surge of urgency. Garden Gale knew Admire Vega would be strong. But this time, she truly wouldn't flinch. The one who would win was her. Back when she faced Narita Top Road, didn't she think she was unbeatable too? And in the end, didn't Garden Gale win anyway? She ran her best race and took the whole thing!
And she had people supporting her.
Steadying herself—steadier, steadier.
So the moment she woke up, Garden Gale went straight to the training track to chase a breakthrough.
...
1H30MIN later—an hour and thirty minutes later.
Garden Gale stood in place, letting the sweat drip from her forehead onto the grass. Her gaze was unfocused, but her brow was knitted tight—proof she was thinking hard.
…The problem she was thinking about was critical.
First, the premise.
Garden Gale had already learned Tokai Teio's flexible running style. Her body had been tuned for running that way as well, so she'd been using Tokai Teio's style this whole time—no need to say more. But now she'd unlocked the Air Shakur running style, and when she tried it, she felt a powerful sense of mismatch—especially when she switched mid-run into Air Shakur's acceleration style.
It was the kind of awkwardness even an untrained eye could see.
How to put it?
…Switching.
Yeah.
That was the word: switching.
Garden Gale couldn't handle two running styles at once.
But then she remembered last time—when she used Curren Chan's style. That short-distance burst hadn't caused anything like this. It had been smooth. Why? Didn't that contradict everything?
She thought quietly.
Was it because of this "template running style" issue?
No—wait.
She had it!
Her eyes lit up.
Back then, even though she'd said she "switched" to Curren Chan's running style, all she'd really done was borrow Curren Chan's method to accelerate for a moment. Fundamentally, it was still Tokai Teio's style.
The roots weren't different.
Air Shakur's style didn't have that flexibility. The base way of generating force was different altogether—and that was the key point: force application. There was no doubt. Because Garden Gale also remembered that time she used the [Color Change Card]—even her body had changed into Narita Top Road's shape.
Yeah. That had to be it.
"This is… a pretty big problem," she said with a strained, wry smile.
Because if that was how it worked, then it meant Garden Gale could only push Tokai Teio's running style to its peak. After that, every other style would be nothing but garnish—skills she could tack on for a little boost. One look, and her "system" suddenly didn't feel that powerful anymore. Half-crippled.
Was that really the case?
No.
Absolutely not.
She tightened her fist slightly.
Garden Gale wasn't made of dough. She just thought: if the system hadn't stopped her from switching, then the issue had to be in the transition—she wasn't smooth enough, so she briefly lost speed. Even her best trait, center of gravity control, visibly fell apart.
But after switching, the discomfort was real.
Did she need to adjust her force application pattern? That wasn't something you could tweak casually. It wasn't a small matter—it was a decisive one. The kind of problem that stayed hard even after you identified it.
What she needed was to swap into the right force application pattern within one second—or else… she'd end up exactly like this.
With her speed gone, and control all thrown off.
…Rubbing her aching temples, Garden Gale filed the issue away.
She didn't have an answer yet. She couldn't think of one. For now, she stopped using the running style from the Air Shakur template and instead devoted herself entirely to drilling Tokai Teio's style.
She'd thought she could give everyone a huge surprise, too.
Her cheeks puffed out, a little sulky.
For now, she'd just train hard and get stronger.
With that thought, Garden Gale stopped fixating on it. Just like she'd said—train.
The road to becoming a champion tyrant was bound to be choked with thorns and wild brush.
And Garden Gale had a faint premonition…
Once she solved this most, most, most, most, most critical problem, nothing would be able to stop her anymore.
---
T/N: jack of all trades, master of none...
i fear the man who has trained one kick a thousand times, instead of the man who has trained a thousand kicks one time (something like that)
BUT OUR GARDEN GALE WITH TRAIN A THOUSAND KICKS! A THOUSAND TIMES!!!!!!!!