"Xiao Yue!"
The voice arrived together with a figure that all but flew onto Overtake Trap's back. The scent of a young girl bloomed in the air, carried by the hair that had been tossed up by her sudden leap. It brushed past Terumi Shinji's face before spilling down over Overtake Trap.
The girl clinging to her was beaming with excitement, so delighted she could hardly contain herself.
"Seja?" Overtake Trap froze for a moment, then immediately recognized who it was from the feel of her. She quickly urged the girl off her back and turned around.
Who else could it be but Seja, standing there as proud as ever? Shinji narrowed his eyes slightly.
Horse Girl: Seja
Condition: ExcellentPopularity: 20,184,922Trainer: Feiber Hua
Three Goddesses' Blessings: 5
Unique Skill: Prelude in Praise of Fate Lv.5Upon entering the final straight with open running room ahead, greatly increases burst acceleration and speed. If running on the inside lane, greatly increases power and restores stamina.
Special Status: None
Equipped Items:Eternal Night Pendant — greatly reduces the burden placed on the horse girl by the Three Goddesses' BlessingsMiko's Protective Charm — slightly reduces the burden placed on the horse girl by the Three Goddesses' Blessings; slightly improves leg durability
Training Aptitude: Better suited for speed and stamina training
She had very obviously undergone another blessing after the Japan Cup. Shinji did not care much about that. It was a decision made by her trainer, and likely by the horse girl herself as well. As far as he was concerned, all he could do was acknowledge it.
Seja's talent was at least above average. With that many blessings on her, Shinji knew she would definitely make some noise this year.
His gaze lingered on the status screen the system had displayed, on Seja's second piece of equipment, and on the level of her unique skill. This was the first time he had seen a horse girl whose unique had already reached level five.
From what he had worked out himself, along with the system's earlier explanations, skill upgrades mainly depended on popularity—but that only applied up to level four.
A level-five skill could not be obtained through popularity alone.
So that means it has to go through the Three Goddesses' Blessings? Then translated into my system's framework, that would mean it requires a system blessing?
The system fell silent for a beat before answering.
[In most cases, under the system's rules, the highest level a horse girl's skill can reach is four.]
That alone revealed a little more about the system than usual. Some of the items produced by the system—runes, blessings, or otherwise—were clearly tied to skill levels.
Shinji did not pry further. From the looks of it, a level-five skill did not seem to offer some absurd leap over level four anyway. If it was only this much, then he could accept it.
After all, in Overtake Trap's three G1 victories so far, it was not as though her unique skill had played no part—but it certainly had not been the decisive factor either.
This "miko"… does it have anything to do with that "witch"?
[Absolutely none.]
Disappointed, Shinji thought of the rune whose use he still had not figured out and had momentarily hoped this might be a clue. Hearing the system's reply, he could only feel a little let down.
Still, it was interesting. Seja's road was now more or less set: reduce the burden of the Three Goddesses' Blessings, then continue accepting more. Shinji did not have a clear opinion on whether that path was good or bad, but at the very least, nothing seemed wrong with it for now.
"How did you get here?" Overtake Trap asked in surprise.
"Because of you, of course."
Her Japanese was still clumsy, but Overtake Trap's eyes lit up at once. In her reflected gaze, Seja's face was full of pride, and now she finally understood why.
The girl's gift for languages really was extraordinary. In just a few months, she had already become capable of simple everyday conversation in Japanese.
"I came to watch your race."
Overtake Trap scratched her head. She had not really thought this race was worth making a special trip for. The Dubai Sheema Classic was indeed a G1, but it had only been elevated quite late, and Dubai's races had yet to build up much prestige. Other than the Dubai World Cup, the rest of the local races still carried less international weight than the Japan Cup.
Still, not wanting to dampen her friend's enthusiasm, Overtake Trap smiled and nodded. Then her eyes dropped to Seja's legs.
"I'm much better now. My whole body feels light."
As she said that, Seja seemed to remember something. She stepped in front of Terumi Shinji and bowed deeply, with genuine solemnity.
"Thank you very much. My trainer said that if you ever come to France, please tell him. He wants to speak with you and share a meal."
There was unmistakable respect in her tone when she mentioned her trainer. Shinji had assumed that, given Seja's personality, she might act a little too lively around the man. Instead, it seemed he had trained her remarkably well.
Shinji nodded, already understanding the reason.
That Protective Charm had most likely been something her trainer had obtained for her. As an excellent trainer, he could not possibly have been ignorant of the burden that repeated blessings placed on a horse girl. He had probably been preparing for this long before.
And now, with the addition of the Eternal Night Pendant, the effects stacked. The burden that the Three Goddesses' Blessings had previously imposed on Seja had been almost completely erased. In other words, she had just gained a huge new ceiling for improvement.
So he's basically raised a monster on purpose to become my girl's rival…
Imagining an eight-blessing Seja, Shinji felt that Overtake Trap's raw stats would have to climb even higher.
"Xiao Yue, are you going to run in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud this year?"
After receiving Shinji's nod, Seja turned back to Overtake Trap. Her question made Overtake Trap look straight to Shinji.
"No. Why?"
Shinji raised a brow. As a French horse girl, Seja clearly knew something about that race, otherwise she would not have asked.
"A Japanese horse girl has already come over and settled into our academy. She said she plans to train in France this year and race in Europe." Seja paused, then added, "She mentioned that her next goal is the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud."
As she said that, a sharp edge entered her eyes.
"So I wanted to ask. If you were going, then naturally Xiao Yue would handle her. But if you're not, then I've already scheduled another blessing for mid-April. When the time comes, I'll make sure she learns exactly how strong we are."
She had clearly not forgotten how badly Overtake Trap had been treated in Japan. Seja had already fixed her sights on that Japanese horse girl who intended to challenge Europe.
The firmness in her tone made Overtake Trap smile. Even in the middle of everything she had endured in Japan, she had still managed to forge such honest friendships with foreign horse girls. That truly was a kind of luck.
"What's her name?" Shinji asked, more interested in the identity of this girl than anything else. He had not heard the news back home, and he could not be bothered to go digging through reports.
"Her name is El Condor Pasa," Seja said, hesitating for a moment before adding, "A horse girl who's… pretty arrogant."
Join here to read ahead.
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