Umamusume's days are numbered

That's what they call it.

"Hahahaha!" Platinum laughed loudly as she ran, her head thrown back, tears welling in her eyes and drifting away in the wind. Although she was laughing, her laughter sounded exactly like the cry of a cuckoo.

Really? Is everyone cheering themselves on? Does one's own existence feel so vivid at this moment?

Being able to run is really great.

It's so great to be a racehorse girl.

It's so wonderful to be able to come into this world.

Thousands of cheers, along with Platinum's almost weeping laughter, spread throughout the country via electronic devices, appearing on mobile phones, computers, and televisions.

Platinum's voice, a mixture of crying and laughing, mingled with that of all the newborns born that day. It was truly a grand chorus of life, the cries of tens of millions of infants blending together to create the world's most magnificent and spectacular symphony.

Because it symbolizes new life.

"Platinum, crossing the finish line! He rightfully reigns supreme, leaving all the other players far behind! There is not a single surprise; in the face of such a huge gap in strength, everything else is meaningless!" The commentator stood up excitedly, waving his arms.

"Let us celebrate her birth! The Platinum Princess, radiant as the sun from Europe! At this moment, she proclaims her existence freely on this land! Can you hear her? She greets us, she greets us with her heaven-sent legs! She is saying to us—"

"Welcome to my arrival! With this dazzling brilliance, I will defeat all my opponents!"

Episode 4 Monsters and Geniuses

"Platinum, cross the finish line!"

As the commentator finished speaking, Platinum didn't react. Or rather, she didn't even realize how far she had run or where the finish line was; she was just running with her head down.

In other words, her victory was a complete and utter crushing one. It wasn't a tactical victory, but simply a result of a massive gap in physical strength.

That's why, after crossing the finish line, Platinum maintained his original speed and sprinted forward for nearly two hundred meters before he heard the cheers from the announcer and the audience.

I've crossed the finish line? It's over? The dust has settled?

Platinum looked around blankly, then took a step to the side. With a sickeningly loud sound, and with Fuji Koji and Koi Leaping Over the Dragon Gate both twitching their faces, she roughly used her feet to brake, sending a patch of grass flying behind her.

"This is the first time I've ever seen someone treat their ankle like this..." Fuji Koji said in a low voice.

Only at this moment did Platinum's body seem to catch up with her rhythm. Platinum began to breathe heavily, her chest heaving, and sweat instantly appeared on her body, soaking her sportswear.

Platinum's body remained at that terrifyingly high temperature, and the sweat was immediately evaporated, leaving a thin layer of salt crystals on her arms.

"What a terrifying body..." Carp Leaps Over the Dragon Gate murmured as it looked at the platinum figure standing in front of it.

Platinum herself might not be able to react, but the two of them saw it very clearly... They knew very well that this was a complete and utter crushing. It was the crushing of legs, the crushing of lungs, the crushing of bones, the crushing of muscles.

In other words, Platinum's victory was only natural.

"The top-ranked athlete is Platinum, the second is Fuji Koji, and the third is Koi Leaping Over the Dragon Gate. The fact that Koi Leaping Over the Dragon Gate could achieve such a result even while slowing down speaks volumes about his talent..."

"But...it's terrifying. Platinum has completely overshadowed the other riders. This race has become a one-woman show for Platinum. She's more than a dozen horse lengths behind Fuji Koji, who is in second place."

"And after crossing the finish line, Platinum continued running for several hundred meters. Could it be that she wasn't quite done yet?"

"Platinum! Platinum!" Such shouts rang out from the audience, all gathered together, deafeningly loud.

Such a sound...

Platinum instinctively raised her hand and waved towards the audience.

Seeing Bai Jin's move, the cheers from the audience grew louder and louder, layer upon layer.

"Ha, haha..." With such cheers, Platinum grinned and looked up at the audience.

So that's what "carp leaping over the dragon gate" means...

Once you actually start running, you'll realize you'll stop thinking about all those random, unnecessary things...

So running can be such a joyful thing?

"Tch, that guy..." Fuji Koji, panting, wiped the sweat from the corner of his mouth as he saw Shirogane's appearance and walked straight toward her.

"Alright, let her enjoy the joy of victory alone. This is probably a first for her." Just then, a hand gripped her shoulder. Koi Leaps Over the Dragon Gate patted Fuji Koji's shoulder, smiling helplessly.

"What do you mean? You expect me to just let her provoke me like this? She's leading by more than a dozen horse lengths! We've both lost face!" Fuji Koji flung away the hand of the Leaping Dragon Gate like a cat with its fur standing on end. "Don't you feel ashamed?"

"—You mean, if you're left behind by more than ten horse lengths, you should blame the other person for not giving you face, instead of blaming yourself for not being able to outrun them?"

Fuji Koji was stumped by the phrase "carp leaping over the dragon gate".

"You ask me if I feel ashamed?" Carp Leaping Over the Dragon Gate maintained that helpless smile, but his fingertips dug deeply into his palm.

"Of course I feel ashamed, not only ashamed, but also resentful! So resentful that I want to die!"

"This was my second debut battle. And I lost this time, which means I have to run a third debut battle."

"Isn't this shameful?"

"But what can we do? Are we supposed to tell her: 'Because you ran away so fast, I won't be able to debut.' Do you want that?"

"If you're not as skilled as others, then you're not as skilled as others."

At this point, Li Yuelongmen let out a long sigh of relief: "At this moment, the only thing we can do is to gracefully congratulate others on their victory."

After saying that, the carp leaping over the dragon gate led the applause. Fuji Koji, watching the carp leaping over the dragon gate, could only click his tongue and reluctantly clapped along.

"Don't be too discouraged. It's not that hard to acknowledge that others are different." Standing next to Fuji Koji, Koi Leaping Over the Dragon Gate said in a low voice.

"What do you mean?" While clapping, the chestnut-haired Fuji Koji glanced at the carp leaping over the dragon gate.

“I once ran alongside Xingyun Tiankong.”

"Wait...who are you talking about? That Nebula Sky?" Fuji Koji looked at the carp leaping over the dragon gate in surprise.

The runaway horse that dealt a heavy blow to Tetsuya Musume Special Week in the Satsuki Sho and Kikuka Sho, and won two of the classic Triple Crowns.

When competing against Special Week in the Chrysanthemum Festival, Nebula Sky's incredible escape not only broke the race record but also set a new world record, making her undoubtedly one of the strongest female racehorses of the year and a world-class horse.

With Fujikoji and her group's current strength, they are simply no match for them.

"No, we're not that close. But we're both at Treson Academy, so it's not unusual to bump into each other occasionally, right?"

The carp leaping over the dragon gate slowly explained.

"I happened to meet Senior Xingyun Tiankong during a morning run, and we ran side by side for more than ten seconds."

"You... I'm so envious!"

"Hehe, right?" Koi Leaps Over the Dragon Gate sticks out his tongue at Fuji Koji. "But it was during that brief run that I truly understood the vast difference between myself and her."

"Senior Nebula Sky was very kind, and even deliberately slowed down a bit. But even at that speed, it was not something I could withstand. After only a dozen seconds, I was left behind."

"This is the gap between world-class teams and us... They can defeat us without even needing any tactics... No, it should be said that they wouldn't even be aware of our existence before crushing us." Carp Leaping Over the Dragon Gate maintained his clapping posture, looking at Platinum ahead.

"Today, I thought about that feeling again."

Platinum was waving to the audience, the bright afternoon sun hanging behind her, so dazzling that it was almost blinding.

“I think participating in this debut race today might not be a bad thing for us. We may be witnessing history—the birth of another world-class horse king.”

Episode 5: Environmental Protection and Mission

Inside the lounge, Platinum was pointing at the air.

After waving twice on the field, Platinum's social anxiety kicked in again. As she had mentioned before, this was the first time in her life she had seen so many people at once—and it was the same in her previous life.

So when the initial excitement cooled down, Platinum slunk away like a mouse and disappeared into the rest room, refusing to show herself no matter how loud the shouts outside were. Only Koi Leaps Over the Dragon Gate and Fuji Koji remained on the field to say goodbye to the audience.

Oh no, I got a little carried away. Platinum frowned in annoyance—in fact, she had heard every word of the conversation between Koi Leaping Over the Dragon Gate and Fuji Koji. Strangely enough, this body not only had frighteningly good physical abilities, but its five senses were also extremely sharp. It was almost as if... it really was an assassin, a killer.

In short, Platinum realized that although he was having a great time, the race was a real ordeal for the female horses behind him.

The idea that running isn't fun is absolutely a lie.

Are you talking about your horse?.jpg

It's not that the joy of racing is unreal, but there's a limit to how much joy there can be. The more Platinum laughs, the less he shares with others.

Imagine this: you've painstakingly prepared for a match, and suddenly a white-haired guy appears and beats you all down with a single punch, then turns around and says that everyone here is trash. How would you feel?

Or... should we apologize to them when they come to the lounge? No, no, no, that would be more like adding fuel to the fire... Platinum rubbed her forehead and let out a helpless sigh.

Forget it, let's take a step by step.

In short, let's go back to the beginning. Platinum is pointing at the air. Actually, it's not because Platinum is lecturing the air, but because a transparent panel has appeared in front of her.

That's right, it's the one that everyone's been waiting for, the one that every time traveler needs, the one that's called the system.

This thing suddenly popped out of Platinum's face while she was waving at the audience on the track.

[Win a match (Completed)] (3-star rating) (20+20 carrot reward)

[Debut competition completed (completed)] (3-star rating) (20+20 carrot reward)

[Complete three matches (1/3)] (Winning the championship will earn a three-star rating) (100+100 carrots reward)

[Complete three big-reward matches (0/3)] (Winning the championship will earn a three-star rating) (200 carrots reward + ?)

[Complete the Yayoi Prize (0/1)] (Winning the prize will earn you a three-star rating) (100 carrots reward + unlock the level 2 shop interface)

[Complete the Satsuki Prize (0/1)] (Winning the prize will earn a three-star rating) (150 + 150 carrots reward)

···

Looking at the platinum item horizontally or vertically, it always feels surprisingly simple.

It's more like an achievement system in a game than a system interface. Besides this achievement interface, there's only a shop interface, which looks bare, like a computer science student copying directly from the website for their final exam.

And what's with the three-star rating? Why does it have to be this aspect that's so similar to a certain anime-style tower defense game? Platinum complained fiercely.

That's not all. I practically ripped myself out of my body before, and you didn't show up then. You didn't show up when I was being dragged to the track by Surugawa Tetsuya, but you only show up after I've finished running? So if I don't run, you won't show up at all?

Did you copy this beginner's tutorial from Don't Starve? The beginner's tutorial still requires you to explore the map and find things yourself, right? Terrible reviews! Terrible reviews!

However, at least because of this simple system, Platinum knows that it is indeed on the right track. That's a good thing.

Thank goodness.

Seeing that there was nothing left on the achievements screen, Platinum turned to open the store interface.

"Oh." Platinum stared blankly at the five-figure page of the store, unsure of what to say.

With a quick glance, she discovered that compared to the rudimentary achievement system, the shop was incredibly diverse. From pickled chicken feet to Tiger tanks, she saw them all... It was as if every existing item in the world had been crammed into the shop, and everything was traded using carrots obtained from the achievement system.

"So what's the point of having a Tiger tank? And why is there a Boeing aircraft here?" Platinum scratched her head in frustration, increasingly confused about the system's purpose.

Looking down at the price, oh well, never mind.

Platinum did realize that his store had everything. Everything imaginable—electronic devices, clothing, home appliances… you could find it all in the store. Hmm, but it seems there's no fake document processing function.

In addition, what made Platinum feel uneasy and reminded her of bad memories were the various special medicines and suppressants that were prominently displayed on the store's homepage, in the "Frequently Used" section, which she had used to stay alive in her previous life.

She rubbed her arms, trying not to think about those things, and flipped down.

Anyway, let's give it a try...and see if this store is reliable or not. Platinum checked his Carrot Balance, thought for a moment, and dragged a newly released mobile phone and a windbreaker into his shopping cart and made the purchase.

Watching her carrot balance being deducted, Miss Platinum sat up straight with glee, waiting for the items to refresh in front of her.

One second passed, two seconds passed, three seconds passed...

Nothing happened.

Miss Platinum's smile froze. She stood up angrily and kicked the sofa hard.

What a lousy system! It swallows things but doesn't output them, huh? Thumbs down! Thumbs down!

As Platinum kicked it, a travel bag rolled off the sofa with a clatter. Miss Platinum paused, wondering if the travel bag had been there before. She had no recollection of it.

So she looked around furtively, and naturally, there was no one there. Miss Platinum then crouched down furtively and unzipped her travel bag, and sure enough, she saw a windbreaker, a fitted shirt, jeans, and a new cell phone with a pendant.

This strong sense of everyday use... could it belong to someone else? Platinum muttered to himself, picking up the phone. Naturally, there was no fingerprint unlock. Platinum held the phone in front of his face, and the screen lit up.

"It's actually unlocked... Well, it really is mine."

Platinum rummaged through his travel bag, grimacing, feeling that the system always had to give him a creepy, disgusting twist.

Finally, Platinum also found a phone charger in the travel bag. Now the store is giving away chargers with phone purchases – that's anything but environmentally friendly.