Why was I assigned to be a horse girl?

"This...this doesn't make sense, does it? Where are the robots? Where is the supercomputing center? Where are all the water-cooling pipes? It can't just be that there are a lot more cameras on the sidelines, can it?"

The grass and dirt fields were still the same ordinary grass and dirt fields. The grass was green and the dirt was brown... The winter sun shone on the lawn, making the fodder look somewhat withered.

It looks no different from the track where I usually train. The only difference is that there are a lot of black and bulky devices erected on both sides of the track. The devices are also equipped with sunshades and waterproof cloths. You can imagine that no matter if it is pouring rain or snowing, these weather conditions will not affect the normal operation of the AR devices, providing special effects for the horse girls and the audience anytime, anywhere.

"These are the facilities." The teacher seemed quite familiar with the equipment, putting her arm around Hitoko Amber as she said, "Because most of the racetracks for Uma Musume are old structures. New racetracks are at least several decades old, and those with nearly a hundred years of history are the norm..."

"The building is too old, so there's no way to completely modify the wiring and add equipment. That's why distributed equipment that can be installed and dismantled on demand is the current mainstream... It's not cheap, but with a little setup, it can be used in any location!"

Qiangji, who was standing to the side, kindly reminded, "The equipment will be very bright and have a lot of special effects when it is turned on in a while. Remember not to stare at the equipment."

“I’m not stupid.” Amber smiled confidently, then looked at Dali Arab beside her and asked, “What should I do next?”

"You've already made an appointment. Just step on the identity verification device at the door to verify your footprints and vein distribution."

Dali Arab waved his hand slightly, and the grasshopper gate not far away opened in response, this time looking somewhat modern and technologically advanced.

Narcissus, dragging her exquisitely crafted trunk still sealed, walked towards the sidelines: "Little Amber, get used to the track first. I'll go help you secure your clothes with tape and pins..."

"Huh? Forgive my ignorance! Clothes... do you need to use safety pins and adhesive to hold the parts of the clothes together?"

Scarlet Amber nearly stumbled and fell, but Narcissus's words were simply too shocking. "If you put this on, wouldn't I be running around dropping equipment all the time? What if I reach the finish line and am the only one left? Even dancing a striptease on stage... it's not this exciting..."

"I won't allow you to look down on strippers like that! We strippers all strive for elegance without being vulgar! I don't consider those low-class dances to be dances at all!"

After briefly emphasizing things like dancing, Narcissus continued explaining the timeline for the final outfit, "Your outfit isn't completely finished yet. To prevent any necessary modifications, it's still in pieces. It should be finalized by the end of today..."

"I haven't even seen it yet... how is it finalized already?"

"You'll be able to watch it in a little while, right? By the way, I've made the changes based on your suggestion last time!"

"Wasn't that Donna's idea?"

With a mix of excitement and trepidation, Fei Tu Hu Po walked to the gate, took off her sneakers, grabbed the toes of her compression stockings and pulled them off, then stepped barefoot onto the live verification device.

[Verification successful. The horse girl, Hibiki Amber, has had her attribute information synchronized.]

Accompanied by a voice prompt, a light similar to the golden-red color of Hitotsu Amber's hair shone from beneath Hitotsu Amber's feet, giving it a futuristic feel reminiscent of a fingerprint unlocking phone...

Then, the crimson glow continued to ripple like water, flowing into the gate. Then, just like the blood oaths in novels, the cameras that were originally positioned in the gate and in standby mode, as well as the AR devices near Scarlet Amber, seemed to come alive and focused on Scarlet Amber.

[This is your first time using the Uma Musume Pretty Derby AR Enhancement System. Based on your "wise" attribute assessment, the system has been automatically adjusted to the "idiot-proof" version.]

Fei Tu Hu Po promptly raised her hand in protest: "I feel like this system is looking down on me!"

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The second update is here!

Please, please, please, please!

If nothing unexpected happens, there will be a third and even more...

Chapter 225 Look at me! Don't look at my stats! (Bounty 24)

"The 'foolproof version' just means the default settings! It doesn't mean you're stupid or anything!"

"Is that so?"

"Yes, yes... that should be it!"

With a hesitant and conflicted expression, Hitotsu Kohaku walked into the gate, while Qiangji, standing on the sidelines, frantically winked at Kotobuki Toru and Kotobuki Kou, his tone laced with sarcasm.

"Hey guys, the system you designed is pretty smart. Just by stepping on it and looking at her hands... or her feet, it can recognize Amber's innocence."

Kotobuki stuck out her tongue, admitting her mistake but not admitting it, and said, "Doesn't this make the system seem very intelligent? I just think this about Amber is adorable! Amber! What do you think?"

Standing in the gate, Fei Tu Hu Po raised her palm to her eyes, watching the crimson fireflies flowing between her fingers. These light particles emitted by the equipment seemed like living stardust, tracing silken light trails in the air as her fingertips trembled. When she suddenly flicked her wrist, the dazzling light trail instantly left a beautiful crescent moon afterimage on her retina, much like the fiery sparklers waved by children on New Year's Eve.

Fei Tu's amber-gold eyes shone with light, glistening slightly with excitement. If she were to run at full speed, these streaks of light would probably turn into crimson ribbons chasing after her like pigs.

With her eyes tightly closed, Hitoko imagined the scene on the track: when the twelve racehorses were racing on the G1 track at the same time, and twenty-four different colored light strips trailed behind comet tails of different colors, what kind of thunderous cheers and tsunami would erupt from the audience?

This is much more romantic than those boring speed measurement methods of the past.

Hitoko Amber remembers watching the races of her seniors from Uma Musume, where the commentators would repeatedly broadcast data such as "current average speed 58 km/h", "cornering speed decreased by 0.5 seconds", and "Uma Musume No. 5's position shifted five meters to the left".

The audience, on the other hand, had to time their favorite horse girl by keeping a stopwatch on the signs on both sides of the track, just like doing a math problem, to calculate how long it took for her to pass each sign.

Finally, they even had to use the high school physics formula [distance divided by time equals speed] to estimate the instantaneous running speed of the horse girl. Those viewers who are bad at math and physics might not be able to understand the race!

For now... as long as the audience enjoys Uma Musume Pretty Derby itself, that's enough!

Hitoko Amber swayed the light strip in her hand—with the support of AR racing technology, the speed of the racehorse girls will be displayed in the most intuitive form.

The longer the shadow behind a racehorse girl, and the cooler the special effects, the stronger that racehorse girl must be. This is beneficial for both the racehorse girls and the audience. The audience can focus more on the race, and the racehorse girls can better showcase their personal charm rather than just their numerical stats.

It's said that there's a chaotic phenomenon in the current Uma Musume fandom: when choosing which Uma Musume to watch, or which one is their favorite, people don't compare which one is more beautiful or which one has better character... and they certainly don't choose to support a particular Uma Musume just because she has long legs or a fuller bust.

The reality is that when people talk to each other, the first questions they ask are things like, "How fast is the horse you're pushing? How much strength? Does it have any special effects?" They completely ignore the charm of the racehorse girls themselves.

In order to make money off these "power players" or "Speed ​​Live" players, the Uma Musume Association even deliberately released Uma Musume battle cards, which are purely about comparing numbers, fields, and special effects, without any emotion whatsoever...

This incident sparked discontent among many female fans, with some of the more radical ones, confident in their looks and charm, even publicly stating on social media: "Does the three-dimensionality of my 80s, 70s, and 80s really pale in comparison to a flashy card less than a millimeter thick?"

Then, the comment that received the most likes on the social media platform was, "[It really can't compare to Rudolf's symbol card with 1100 speed and 1200 strength, that's a limited-time god card!]", the well-proportioned racer girl was directly defeated, and it's said that she even cried for a long time during her live stream that day...

However, now that everyone's attention is focused on Uma Musume Girls, there should be far fewer speed love riders like this!

As Fei Tu Hu Po looked up, the countdown timer in the gate and above the gate gradually approached zero seconds.

The moment the starting gun fired, the gates opened, and the pristine white countdown numbers seemed to melt away like snow, dissolving into one's body like feathers...

"Wow...that's so cool."

The first to exclaim in surprise was Hitoko, a country girl. In a place like Sapporo, where had Hitoko ever seen such realistic and cool special effects?

This is even more realistic than those legendary 3D movies!

If we're talking about the audience... I believe no audience member could resist such a stunning opening effect.

Then, Hitoko activated her Concentration skill. This time, it wasn't just that a silvery-white light emanated from her body. Looking up, Hitoko could see a pocket watch floating above her head. The hands of the pocket watch were rotating extremely slowly... It looked as if the flow of time had slowed down, which perfectly matched the feeling that time would stop when you were in a state of concentration.

Next to the alarm clock, the skill description floats: "Medium concentration, moderately increases reaction speed during the exit and starting phases."

From her own perspective, it didn't seem particularly eye-catching, but since Hitoko had sat in the stands before, she knew that these skill descriptions would be much more noticeable when viewed from the sidelines or in the stands.

Technology... is really amazing!

Then, Hitotsu Amber tried to accelerate... She stomped her left foot heavily on the ground, and the moment she did, the ground collapsed and mountains crumbled, grass and soil shattered, the earth cracked, and bright red lava flowed through it.

Fei Tu Hu Po's natural way of thinking is simply not up to that level. It's no problem to trample a hole in the grass, but to create this kind of apocalyptic feeling... that's definitely impossible. She's just a little bit chubby, not a fat dinosaur that can smash through the earth's core!

"These special effects are amazing!"

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Bonus chapter coming!

Please please please please

Chapter 226 Has he activated Demon Transformation? (Bounty 25)

The 3000-meter long-distance training session ended quickly. After running a full lap, I returned to the starting line of the track, with beads of sweat dripping from my hair onto the holographic projection of the starting line.

Sparks of excitement danced in the girl's crimson eyes, her sweat-soaked training clothes clung to her back, emitting faint white steam.

"Haa...haa...if the training track were this cool, I could run it as many times as I wanted!"

Standing on the sidelines, Teacher ? waved to Hitotsu Amber. Hitotsu Amber's high praise for these AR augmentation devices made her feel very proud.

"I'm glad you like it, but little Amber, guess how much money you spent running around like that?"

"Huh? Does it cost money? You have to pay to run a lap?"

"of course."

A crisp metallic clanging sound came from the sidelines. The teacher stood behind an AR augmentation device and tentatively reached behind it with the handle of a pure silver umbrella bearing a luxury car logo.

"Teacher! What are you doing? Didn't you say this thing is very expensive?"

"It's okay, it's okay, this is a heat dissipation vent."

Kotobuki Tsumugi flicked her wrist, and then, as if to confirm Kotobuki's words, several things wrapped in tin foil rolled out of the equipment's cooling ducts and hit the ground with a few "thuds." The tin foil was still emitting scalding hot air, and it was easy to guess that the things wrapped under the tin foil were already cooked to the bone.

Fei Tu Hu Po stared in disbelief, her stomach growling loudly. "Eh? This... is this right?"

"To avoid wasting energy, we should make reasonable use of the waste heat from equipment."

The teacher didn't rush to pick up the foil packets. Instead, he used the umbrella handle to roll them around to cool them down. "This is just one of the machines on the track. It generates a lot of heat when it's running. It could easily roast several sweet potatoes. There are 100 of these machines in total. Little Amber, can you guess how much electricity it costs just to keep these machines running?"

"Um, I can't guess... I don't know much about the power of electrical appliances."

When she was poor, she didn't know how to use the refrigerator, microwave, oven, and other appliances in her house. In the summer, she would take a shower in the dark without turning on the lights. She tried to save on electricity bills wherever possible, so Fei Tu Amber didn't have a very strong sense of electricity costs.

"Well, never mind then. In short, these devices cost a lot of money to operate, so even a wealthy academy like Central Treson has to use a tiered system and limited numbers to make you use them sparingly."

"Well... I only booked an hour! Should I hurry up and run a few more laps now?"

Fei Tu Hu Po stomped her foot, applying the mindset of eating as much as possible at a buffet—"eat as much as you can in a limited time, and try to eat the restaurant owner until they have to beg for food"—to this AR trial site. "I've already used up my queue points, it feels like a waste not to practice more..."

"You can go for another run without any problem, and when you come back you can eat these roasted sweet potatoes."

Qin Chui covered her mouth and chuckled. "Indeed, this kind of poor girl who knows how to manage a household is much more interesting! Her thinking is far more interesting than those rich young ladies who spend money like water and treat money like dirt."

Fei Tu Hu Po nodded and walked towards the arena. After taking a few steps, Qiang Ji followed closely behind. "Sister Hu Po, let me run a couple of laps with you."

"Can you run too?"

"It just doesn't have the ranking points or special effects. You can treat it like a normal run!"

"Okay, let's go!"

Before long, the two racehorse girls sprang out of the gate again. The difference between having special effects and not having them was like night and day. Fei Tu Hu Po was majestic and imposing, while Qiang Ji was ordinary and simple. One was like a lucky child in a novel, surrounded by auspicious clouds and flowing with Taoist charm, while the other looked like a horse on the side of the road.

"I guess I still have to spend money."

“Watching the game this way is so much better…” Kotobuki Toru nodded slightly in agreement. “Normally when Kohaku and the others are training one-on-one, they throw out all sorts of skills on the field, but we, as trainers, can’t see anything. The horse girls on the field are just making all sorts of noises, and it’s quite embarrassing for us to hear.”

At that moment, Narcissus pushed her suitcase full of clothes over. "I don't usually pay much attention to the trainers' lives and training methods, but I want to ask you, how did you know that the racehorse girl used a skill? Did you just hear everyone shouting 'skill'?"

"No, we trainers judge skills by observing the performance of the racehorses on the track and whether there are any sudden changes in their running style. By summarizing various details, we can deduce the skills the racehorses are using. It's like seeing the whole picture from a small part."

"So mysterious?"

Kotobuki nodded, and then pointed to the opponent, who had no AR effects at all, and said, "Look at the opponent, she's using her skill now. Her steps slowed down a little, and she had that mischievous expression on her face."

"Eh?"

The next second, just as Kotobuki Toru's words became law, Hitotsu Amber's body suddenly swayed, clearly affected by a restraining skill. And when the restraining skill was applied to Hitotsu Amber's body, the AR effects on the scene started to work.

A crimson beam of light pierced through Scarlet Amber's body, appearing to cause her considerable pain. Two skill descriptions, one red and one purple, appeared above Scarlet Amber's head.

[Sharp Eyes: Slightly Weakened the Other Horse Girls in the Final Stage]

[Strong Aura: Passive characters are more susceptible to control-type skills, but control-type skills are also more effective.]

The special effects at this moment also verified from another perspective that Kotobuki's statement was accurate and without any exaggeration or boasting.

"Wow, really?" Kotobuki nudged her younger brother with her elbow approvingly. "Your trainer course really paid off... you even know the future."

"It's really just observation and summarizing. Don't you often say that we need to be good at observing, controlling ourselves, and controlling our enemies?"

"I was talking about negotiation skills..."

In the arena, Fei Tu Hu Po was clearly dissatisfied after taking a hit from Qiang Ji. As a result, the skill description above her head disappeared, which meant that the sharp gaze restraining skill effect that Qiang Ji had imposed on her had ended.

“Using their own methods against them…” Fei Tu’s lips curled into a wild arc, her pupils igniting a lava-like golden-red—the AR projection applied to her contact lenses.

Without giving Qiang Shi a chance to show off, Fei Tu Hu Po's figure suddenly changed, and red flames seemed to rise around her, like the murderous aura or domineering aura in martial arts novels.

A crimson light swept across the powerful attack, followed by a burst of crimson smoke that returned to Hitsu Amber's body...

It flickered, sometimes bright, sometimes dim.

"It's like he's turned into a demon..."

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P.S. Demon mode is a power-up feature in Monster Hunter. After entering Demon mode, the body turns red and the attack movements become faster.

Extra chapter!

I'm so awesome!