Even though he had anticipated his return, Luo Cheng still felt a wave of vertigo. Returning meant he was once again a "ghost" in this world. Letting go of the horse girl, he let out a long, heavy sigh.
"Yah~ Trainer." Outside the school building, a soft green figure approached him. A relaxing smile graced Seiun Sky's face. "What is today's training task?"
"Sky..." Luo Cheng started to speak. He had officially signed a contract with her. It seemed that world really was connected to this one; signing her there had given him control over her here.
He walked up to Sky, reached out, and patted her head, ruffling those soft ears. Sky acted as if she knew nothing, simply blinking and waiting for his command.
"Two days ago, you were still secretly following me..."
Without a mind, a person was just a shell. Luo Cheng couldn't even bridge the gap between this Seiun Sky and the one who had fed him cake yesterday.
"I'll give you your tasks this afternoon. Go play for now."
"Yes." Sky nodded and turned to leave. Luo Cheng watched her go, a frown deepening on his face.
"Sky!" he called out. "Do you remember anything about yesterday?"
There was no answer. Sky stood there blankly. After a few seconds with no further command, she simply walked away.
As he thought. She couldn't provide answers beyond the system's scope. Furthermore, he hadn't prefaced his words with "Today's task is—", yet she had understood him perfectly.
Luo Cheng searched for Teio. He soon found her in the Student Council room, clinging to Rudolf.
"Trainer!" The moment she saw him, Teio ran over, her face full of joy. That innocent, cute smile almost made him believe she had "come to life," but it was just a fixed greeting animation; once she stopped smiling, her expression returned to normal.
"Teio, do you remember yesterday?" He tried the same tactic, but again, there was no response.
"Do two sets of push-ups on the floor."
Teio immediately dropped down and began the push-ups. Luo Cheng realized his command method had changed. He no longer needed the prefix; whatever he told her to do, she did.
Was this an effect of finishing the quest? These horse girls seemed "smarter" than before. He looked at Rudolf and Air Groove, and tried to give a command. A dialogue box popped up: [Relationship not yet established].
Right, he had one more signed horse girl.
He went to Agnes Tachyon's lab. It was the same as ever, filled with equipment, but with one difference: in the most prominent spot, a piece of paper was taped up. It read: [Uncover the link between the two worlds.]
Just as Tachyon had said, what she did in that world affected this one. The "Game Tachyon" was still conducting her research on him. Luo Cheng walked over to her as she scribbled at her desk.
"Tachyon."
"Guinea Pig-kun." Tachyon responded to his voice. "What is today's training task?"
It was a fixed dialogue, yet her actions were directly related to him.
"I'll tell you at the track this afternoon."
"Yes." Having answered, she automatically ignored him and went back to her experiment. Luo Cheng left the lab.
What now? When was the next quest? Back in his room, he pulled out the Uma Musume Trainer's Handbook. He couldn't find this book in reality; it only appeared in the game world. He opened Teio's page. After the Debut Race, the next race was the [Wakakoma Stakes] in December. It was three months away—over a hundred days.
Another hundred days... He had already been here for over a hundred days. He had finally managed to live like a normal person, and now he had to wait another hundred! What would he be like by then? But this was how Uma Musume training worked: months of training for one race, then more months of training.
Am I doomed to be just a 'Player' forever?
...
In his office, Luo Cheng looked at Teio's attributes. Every stat was over 170. During the month he had spent without a system, her attributes hadn't stagnated; they had grown steadily. The logic of the game world still applied in reality; a Trainer's job was just to find the right combinations.
Seiun Sky's stats were much lower. Her gains were only three or five points over several days. Perhaps because her "Chapter" hadn't started yet, her attribute growth was capped at a minimum. He looked at the handbook; the book seemed bottomless. It felt thin, yet he could flip through it endlessly, and many pages were blank. He didn't know if it was just empty space or if new characters would appear in the future.
Luo Cheng stretched and gave Seiun Sky a command, telling her to sit in his lap. Compared to Teio, Sky was a bit taller. When she sat on his lap, her head rested perfectly under his chin. She was the perfect size for a body pillow, and her faint lavender scent made him relax completely. While Teio was superior in terms of flexibility, Sky was more comfortable.
Maybe I should just carry the big 'Sei-chan' cat with me wherever I go?
Speaking of holding her, he didn't know how to break that command with Teio. Every time he slept with Sky, Teio would show up, even at night. Two days ago, he was using Sky as a pillow when he woke up to find Teio standing by the bed, giving him a fright. Her blue eyes had glowed in the dark room. He had ended up sleeping with both of them that night.
They seemed to be bound together—or rather, a "pseudo-bind." When he took Teio, Sky would follow secretly. When he took Sky, Teio would stand right there in the open. It matched their dynamic in reality.
Additionally, Luo Cheng found that affection also grew in reality. After several weeks there, he returned to find Sky's affection had grown a heart, though the color was lighter than Teio's. Teio's heart had turned a deep rose-red, and it even seemed to be pulsing.
"Sky, when will we get the chance to go fishing together?" Luo Cheng said instinctively, recalling their previous conversation.
The moment the words left his mouth, a dialogue box appeared.
[Triggered Special Event: Fishing]
Suddenly, the expression on Sky's face became animated, while Teio's face turned bright red, looking like she was about to explode.
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Uma Musume: Inside the Game (40 Chapters – Ongoing)
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