"Sadistic nature? What is that supposed to mean?" Violet had heard Chris' answer and got skeptical. Ava didn't seem like the type to be a sadist.
"Well…" Chris began to respond, "It may not be obvious at all but sometimes she has this odd confidence and expression that says she'll crush you and enjoy it. I'm sure you may have experienced it at least once, being her roommate and all."
"Wha-" Violet was about to retort to the slander but then she thought back to Ava's first day. That oddly manic grin she had on her when Don had asked her 'how she fared in a race' certainly wasn't one of pride…
"Ah…"
"Ah…"
Both Violet and Don seemed to have come to the same realization and thought of what Avalon had said in response back then.
"If I tried, I could probably crush everyone in the junior division?"
At first, it was definitely an impressive declaration to make. It even intrigued the two enough to have a serious mock race with her…
But… after Avalon's 'spectacular' performance back then, they just assumed that Avalon was trying to hype herself up and feign confidence in front of her seniors.
And the two went along with it and respected her for trying to change since she seemed like a very shy girl.
Now though…?
With a predatorial look in her eyes Violet and Don saw they may have been mistaken about her.
—
Avalon was at the back of the pack, a disadvantageous spot for sure but also left space for her to observe.
5 seconds after the race started Avalon began to move, yes it was a late start but something in her wanted her to start late.
It didn't change much anyway, a great chaser is supposed to start far behind. Chris had told her something a few days prior:
"A great chaser doesn't just wait till the last few meters and burst forward praying they'll get by, No. A great chaser is an analyst. Take the time to view your opponents, every micro movement, every slip up, is an opportunity to overtake."
'Easier said than done, Trainer!' Avalon thought morbidly.
Not only was she running while keeping attention to her surroundings and her own stamina management, but now she had to analyse every inch of the ones in front of her?!
Chris hadn't trained her for this yet!
'Guh…! Whatever! I'll just focus on what I CAN do for now…' she resolved as the group in front began to turn at the first corner.
The middle pack was chaotic, everyone was in one spot and space to move freely was scarce. Noticing this, Avalon was kinda grateful she didn't choose to be a pace chaser.
The front was completely different though, only three contested up there and were smoothly carving through the first corner.
[Out in the front! Absolutely dominating are the crowd favourites, Kilroy, Storming Home, and Vest Liner!!! These three are proof that front runners truly are indomitable in current horse racing! Can anyone catch up?!]
The announcer annoyingly boomed and it slightly irritated Avalon, 'The era of great escape, eh?'
Everyone had completed the first corners, Avalon inched out last around 5 lengths behind noticing everyone had begun to considerably accelerate, yet not a soul could touch the three at the front.
As this was a Debut race, the distance was incredibly short, only a mere 1000m. Sprint distance.
But to these umas, this was a new experience. This may as well have been considered the final stretch as the goal wasn't far now, only around 400m.
In the stands, Chris continued from earlier, "Honestly, I'm not sure she's even aware of just how much of a monster she can become..."
The other 5 tilted their heads.
"…When she races with her utmost focus, she enters a trance not far off from the zone, and in that trance she tends to get messily blunt yet overwhelmingly present."
"The funniest part is that I don't think she even knows she does this. A genius? Not quite. But she's certainly on her way."
"How incredibly boring."
Avalon suddenly looked much more indifferent than her earlier hardened expression, as if her goal was a single point in front of her and nothing else remained.
With 350m left of the race she muttered,
"The first sword, Caliburn."
Sword in the stone!
Caliburn!
And the entire pack in front of her shuddered as they felt a presence that shook them to their core for a moment.
Everyone in front of Avalon slipped up for a moment, but that was all she needed. She leaned to the ground, taking a stance that could only favour those with elite flexibility.
The Golden Ratio.
The 5 length gap was closed in an instant, the second farthest uma was not the farthest back.
One.
[OHHH!!! AVALON BEGINS TO MAKE HER MOVE AND OVERTAKES NUMBER 3!!!]
The next didn't fare any better, noticing an uma she deemed as unnecessary noise in her head approaching rapidly.
Two.
[SHE CANT BE STOPPED, TWO FOR TWO!!! SURPASSING NUMBER 1!]
The mid pack was next, though it was too packed for Avalon to maneuver through in a single go.
So, she opted to go around.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
[...]
The announcer went quiet, 'wait, was it supposed to be this easy?' was likely what he was thinking. Everyone Avalon had passed stared in shock and despair as she continued to speed up.
What the hell was happening? Avalon's stats shouldn't be high enough to do this in one go, right?
The answer lies simply in the technique she had been forced to ingrain in her bones for the past few months.
You see, this 'Golden Ratio' running style, maximises an umamusume's speed as high as their physical limit can take them. And in a battle of stats what matters isn't how high the number is, but how much of it can be utilized.
To put it simply, with the other umamusume who may have trained in pure physical prowess and racing theory, they could output a maximum of about 50% of their full speed as they are now.
Avalon on the other hand…
A solid 120% if she decided to give up her handling and go lower.
That's simply just how good of a trainer Chris is. (She honestly wasn't expecting such an outcome but she'll take a win where she can get it.)
Meaning right now… Avalon was running at about 400/530 speed and increasing!
The final three were in front of her, one seemed terrified, as if there was a sword at her neck, the one in front of her looked like she was running on fumes and then…
The one leading the pack seemed focused purely on an end goal and didn't stop accelerating.
The other two were overtaken without much resistance, one couldn't resist the effects of Avalon's unique skill and the other ran out of stamina.
Seven.
Eight.
100m left to go.
Only one remained. Avalon's blue eyes gleamed icily at the one in front of her, she wasn't letting up. Persistently clinging to first place like a lifeline.
If that was how she would play, Avalon wouldn't run from the challenge and accelerated to match her pace.
75m.
50m.
Avalon felt something leaving her, as if she had grown weaker. She turned to her side to face the cause.
First place, Kilroy's unique skill. Likely stamina siphon based. Avalon had no choice but to begin going full tilt, no bars held.
The meters closed in rapidly, the crowd going nuts and the announcer screaming his heart out.
25m.
[UOOOOOOAAAAAHHHHH!!! WHO'S IT GONNA BE?! KILROY, AVALON, KILROY!!!, AVALON!!!!!]
[FOLKS WE MAY BE WITNESSING A COMEBACK OF THE CENTURY!]
Either side could have won, every half second one or the other inched out. How Kilroy was managing to stay in line with Avalon going full speed, not even she knew.
20m.
15m.
10m.
The tension was intense. The suspense was killing the crowd. It may be a debut but it was certainly a very unique one.
5m left. Two racers clashed at full speed, it could be anyone's win.
"HAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" Kilroy began to shout out her efforts but in the end…
[GOAAAAAAL!!!]
[The winner of the Newmarket Maiden Stakes, by half a length is…!]
…
…
…
[AVALON!!!]
"Haah…haaah…haaah…" Avalon's vision was unfocused. She panted heavily as her heart thundered out of her chest.
'I… won…?' She thought, her earlier indifference painted over by a wave of awe as she looked at her own hands.
Then she turned back to see the other racers, they seemed as though their dreams were crushed and spat on. A total look of despair.
Except one. An uma who ran as far as she could, as much as she could. She tried her hardest and that looked like it was enough for her.
That uma was Kilroy. She walked up to Avalon and gave out her hand to shake. Avalon was surprised herself for a moment but accepted the handshake in a daze.
The moment was surreal. She may have just destroyed someone to the point of despair and… she felt pumped…?
She quickly tucked away that odd awakening emotion though… It was weird enough that she was a transmigrator. A Sadist too? No way…
Right?
[First race. Debut. First win. Win. Calculating CONQUEST reward…]
A voice appeared in the back of Avalon's head and she thought, 'oh right, I almost forgot about this…'
One of the packaged 'golden fingers' In Merlin's blessing.
Conquest.
Conquest - With every grand feat Avalon completes, for example, an undefeated triple crown, she will gain a reward worth the effort.
Actually, this activated a while ago when she was on an… incredibly long winning streak while gambling for the money to get into Royal Ascott…
She got something called…
—
"Did you see what I mean?" Chris said from the stands after Avalon's flawless display of dominance.
"A state akin to the 'Zone,' yet bereft of all its customary effects… Mayhap it is not the Zone at all, but another doorway unto that very domain. Tell me… what in the world was that?" Don replied with her hand on her chin in a thinking pose.
"Not only that, but you said she's barely aware of it too? Just what is it?" Violet followed up.
Avalon's three classmates tapped out a long time ago, they had no clue what they were talking about and decided to just be happy for their friend.
"I decided to name it…"
—
[Flow]. That was the name of Avalon's first Conquest reward. She had an idea as to what it did and she suspected she had automatically activated it a couple times but she never felt much different with it on.
Though of course, to the outside viewer, that isn't the case at all…
Now it was time for her second reward. And hopefully it was better than something she rarely had a clue if it was on or not.
[CONQUEST reward: Insight - Training]
'A new Insight mode? Let's see…'
[Insight - Training]
Allows the user to see training progress as a percentage to any technique, stat, skill, or domain that is registered and can or is being trained.
For the record, this is what [Flow state] says.
[Flow]
The user focuses deeper in clutch situations.
'It's way more detailed than the last!'
The day ended with Avalon securing her first win, putting her onto the junior league and allowing her to compete in real races!
Oh, and she lied about being sick after the race to skip the performance afterward. Which honestly got her curious as to what a 1940s umadol concert looked like.
Not curious enough to get on stage herself though. Stage freight and all.
"Ehe~"
—
END OF CHAPTER
A/N: Yo, was this written poorly? I'm not very good at races…
Just tell me! I can take it. (He can't)