In the dark night, Black Knight, also dressed in black, analyzed the next steps with her Little Light Ball.
“After thinking it over, local races are the safest bet.” Black Knight held several books on Umamusume knowledge, carefully reviewing each piece of information.
“Umamusume who haven’t debuted, and those who failed their debut races, accumulate in OP-level events. That means this is the lowest tier of Umamusume.”
“Using game terms, that’s Bronze rank.” She pointed to the pyramid diagram of Umamusume race levels in the book.
“This means OP-level events may have some ‘supernovas,’ but most are Umamusume who failed their debuts.”
“So debut races are safe—most are losers. There may be experts, but not many.”
“So…” Little Light Ball used its “light” to pick up a small piece of carrot and tried to stuff it into its body.
“What does that have to do with local races? Ah… can’t eat it…” Little Light Ball really tried, but even a small carrot piece was too big.
“Because Central has too many people.” Black Knight shook her head.
Central is where almost all Japanese Umamusume eventually go—most races, biggest races.
Umamusume prefer running on bigger stages, so they concentrate in Central, creating a huge base.
Local races are different.
Aside from nearby Umamusume, few participate.
Remote locations, travel hassle, and local tracks use dirt to cut costs—deterring most grass-adapted Umamusume.
“With fewer people, my chances of meeting the protagonist drop, and so do expert encounters.”
“Plus, my Black Knight template’s greatest advantage is running on any surface—grass or dirt—so I can gain an edge.”
She closed the book.
She wanted to smile, but the template’s emotional guidance made it hard.
So she used her thumb and index finger to force a smile.
“In short, I’ll try local races first. After several, I’ll attempt G3 local races.”
“At least after finishing all local levels and getting some strong new templates, I’ll go to Central—ideally with a BOSS-tier template as my main force.”
“…Cautious. But as long as you’re happy.” Little Light Ball said nothing more—it knew nothing.
It was just a guide for this garbage system’s host, with no proper body, not an adult, not even money.
But Black Knight didn’t know her first battle might not be an ordinary local race…
…………
The next day, well-rested Little Kangbai-chan finally set off on her racing path, buying another extra-large ramen on the way and devouring every noodle and drop of oil upside down.
Humming a tune she didn’t know, Little Kangbai-chan trotted into the massive racetrack.
She didn’t bother getting proper racing clothes—too little money.
Better to use her own clothes.
The track was lush green grass, suitable for most Umamusume, and the weather was perfect—sunny, cloudless.
A good day for ranking up.
“Sigh… can’t bring the backpack in.” Holding the key, Little Kangbai-chan walked into the changing room behind the track and placed her small backpack in her assigned locker.
After all, this was an official race, not a simulated one provided by the system space.
She couldn’t run around the track with a backpack—that would be a foul.
“Though the racing rules in this world are really strange. Aside from not allowing direct punches and carrying non-clothing items, you can do basically anything—especially bumping into people…”
Little Kangbai-chan recalled the racing rules of this world again and found plenty to complain about, especially the part about bumping being allowed.
“But come to think of it, the Power stat… seems to be exactly for that, right?” Looking at her C-rank Power, Little Kangbai-chan felt strangely endangered.
If she got bumped, she’d probably either end up flat on the ground or performing a Stephen Chow-style invincible wind-fire-wheel spin.
Especially since she wasn’t fast either—she’d probably run into Umamusume who loved bumping people out of the way, the kind who favored Late Surger and End Closer running styles.
Thinking this, Little Kangbai-chan opened the system’s character gacha interface and looked directly at the SSR-tier Umamusume on rate-up alongside Redstone Wyvern—Barrier Colossus.
Look at that wheat-colored skin, that guts-maxed expression, those muscles that were both solid and aesthetically pleasing, and that name—anyone could tell this one was a racetrack bumper car.
If she had this one, she’d definitely go torment Umamusume with low Power stats, let them know—bumping horses is deep water, you can’t handle it, better give up.
“Attention please! All Umamusume, please proceed to the exhibition segment. According to your assigned numbers, please appear on stage in order.”
“Exhibition… so it’s not just running? Why is it so troublesome?” Emerging from her wandering thoughts, Little Kangbai-chan sighed, expressing that she truly didn’t understand why this world’s racing had so many strange things.
It should be a superpowered competitive world like Prince of Tennis…
The so-called exhibition segment was where Umamusume walked onto a display stage one by one, introduced to the audience by the commentator’s words.
You could do various actions—as long as you were willing and the commentator wouldn’t be left awkward, it was fine.
Basically, the segment was just to show who you were, what your personality was like, and pick up some fans along the way.
“I’m number ten…” Putting on the number tag as long as her shirt, Little Kangbai-chan trotted through the backstage corridor.
Along the way, Umamusume kept staring at her in shock.
One even came up and asked if she was lost, offering to help her find her mother.
…So when was the system going to fix the bug where Little Kangbai-chan was too short?!
—Thinking this while happily eating a lollipop another Umamusume had given her, Little Kangbai-chan let that passing Umamusume lead her to the display stage.
“So you’re here to race too?” The passing Umamusume with pink hair, who introduced herself as Haru Urara, looked at Little Kangbai-chan—who was still eating her lollipop—with confusion.
“Mm mm.” Little Kangbai-chan nodded vigorously, though the lollipop never left her mouth.
“How nice~ Then you better do your best! Aim for first place!” Urara smiled and patted Little Kangbai-chan’s head.
Seeing Urara’s smiling face, Little Kangbai-chan somehow felt full of confidence too! This story is hosted at g.com.
Too bad her template was just a support runner—first place was probably out of reach.
Before the two could chat longer, a call came over the corridor’s broadcast: “Now, please welcome contestant number 10 to the stage~”
“Go on up! Show everyone your best side.” Urara patted Little Kangbai-chan’s head and gave her a thumbs-up, looking confident in her.
“Mm mm.” Little Kangbai-chan enjoyed Urara’s praise, and since she’d been given a lollipop, she didn’t mind the head-patting at all.
Then, with swaggering steps, Little Kangbai-chan walked out of the backstage corridor onto the display stage.
“Now appearing, our contestant number 10—Little Kangbai-chan!”
Beside the display stage, the host held a microphone, introducing each Umamusume before her with full enthusiasm.
Regardless of whether they had fans, this was the respect she gave them.
“She may be small, but Little Kangbai-chan has indeed become an Umamusume ready to run freely~ And this race is Little Kangbai-chan’s debut!”
“So what results will our cute Little Kangbai-chan achieve? Let’s wait and see!”
“Ohhhhh!” Though the audience wasn’t large, every spectator was as enthusiastic as the host.
“This kid is really small—she doesn’t look as old as my daughter.”
“Short legs, but adorable! I’ll be watching you.”
“Go, Little Kangbai-chan!”
The audience cheered warmly, and Little Kangbai-chan on stage kept waving her arms, looking very happy.
Because the moment she stepped on stage, she noticed her emotion points were skyrocketing!
Way more than what the old director and the others had given her!
At this rate, with a few more fans, she could do a big pull on Redstone Wyvern’s banner!
Wow!
She had to come to this display stage often!
Just standing here earned a ton of emotion points!
—Below is non-story text—
In the system’s settings, N cards are Umamusume with initial 1-star rarity, R cards are initial 2-star, and SR cards are initial 3-star.
By that logic, SSR cards are initial 4-star abnormal Umamusume—normally unobtainable, requiring less training than 3-stars, with innate S or even SS stats and three unique skills.
Extremely powerful.
UR cards are initial 5-star super Umamusume—once obtained, barely needing training, ready to race immediately.
UR cards generally have anti-block skills and can compete on stats alone.
Belongs to the “pull if you have money or luck, otherwise skip” category.
BOSS-tier cards are 6-star supermodels—no training needed, just defeat.
Because they’re supermodels, there’s normally no way to obtain them.