I'm in Teresin, dedicated to playing badly

"what happened?"

After a moment's thought, Shinji Kitahara ultimately chose a more tactful approach.

"Have you ever considered entering the entertainment industry? I think with your talent, winning a Best Actor award should be more than enough."

Alice: "...?"

Chapter 36: On Why Trainers in Treson Have a High Turnover Rate

An actor usually refers to a performer who plays a role, but in Uma Musume Pretty Derby, the word has a different meaning.

In the game Uma Musume Pretty Derby, before the actual race, the system compares the attributes and skills of the horse girl dispatched by the player with those of other participating horse girls and makes a prediction of the race result.

Sometimes, even when you send out a female warrior whose stats completely overwhelm the opponent, whose skills are well-matched, and the system predicts she's the winner, it seems like a game where the dragon can't possibly lose.

Then, with a perfect turn, a surge of popularity, and eighteen moves.

In other words, she had the highest popularity in the entire venue, was in excellent form before the competition, and almost everyone thought she would be the champion.

Then they came in last place.

This kind of female horse is called an actress, and she is the most outstanding actress among actresses.

Alice is that kind of contestant.

This sounds a bit unbelievable, after all, Alice has only just joined Shinji Kitahara's team, hasn't even participated in the competition yet, and hasn't even had the chance to play Shinji Kitahara. How can he be so sure that she is an actress?

The answer lies in the details.

"I admit, your stats on paper are quite good, but looking at your pure attributes, saying you're among the top is already being modest. You're fully capable of competing with other top horse girls, and even surpassing them..."

"But this is just data on paper."

“I can see that even though there are no competitions, you have been taking good care of your body and have been maintaining your training. You have also probably taught yourself a lot about training and, combined with your understanding of your own body, you have developed a corresponding training plan. So far, the results should be quite good.”

"But you place too much faith in those surface-level data, to the point that you overlook many other things."

After finishing speaking, Shinji Kitahara sighed with a hint of helplessness.

There's no doubt that Alice is quite strong, and as a mad scientist, her learning ability is naturally excellent, so creating her own training plan is no problem for her.

In terms of theoretical knowledge alone, she knows more than even those senior trainers.

But that's only at the theoretical level.

For trainers, practical experience is far more important than theoretical knowledge from textbooks, and by a significant margin.

Because every horse girl is different.

Origin, family, personality, eating habits, instinctive preferences, and even some small habits in daily life—each of these factors contributes to different differences.

The theories given in textbooks are just classic and general examples. Although they can be applied in most cases, there will definitely be situations where they cannot be applied. In these cases, experience is needed to come into play.

It's true that Alice has a wealth of theoretical knowledge, but this very knowledge has become the shackles that bind her.

She placed too much faith in theoretical knowledge, to the point that she ignored other things.

Although its attributes seem high on the surface and it runs well, especially at medium distances, it is particularly outstanding. Skills that rely on intelligence, such as running techniques and timing judgment, are also not a concern, making it quite formidable.

But Shinji Kitahara is certain that if she dares to compete against opponents of the same level, she will lose so badly that her own mother won't recognize her.

Because she has just too many minor ailments.

The most critical issue is her physical condition.

Although she usually pays attention to exercise and has no problems during tests, the damage caused by spending long hours in the laboratory and irregular eating and sleeping habits has already taken root in various parts of her body.

Although it's not apparent from the outside right now, once she enters the competition and starts running at her limit, all of these things will become bombs that could explode at any moment, and any one of them could blow her up.

Moreover, this is only the most serious problem. In addition, there are various minor troubles that are not so serious and not so obvious on the surface, but their number is ridiculously large.

To give an analogy, it's like Alice has 100 points of strength, but she also has over 100 debuffs that have an activation rate of about 1%.

If one trigger is triggered, she can only exert a maximum of 80% of her strength; if two triggers are triggered, it's basically certain that she'll be sent away.

Although her stats are high and she's not bad in other aspects, she's almost top-tier in terms of strength. But unless she's extremely lucky, she's unlikely to be able to fully unleash her potential.

This is why Shinji Kitahara called her an actress.

When he first explained the situation, Alice had a smile on her face, but as the explanation went on, the smile gradually disappeared, and her head slowly lowered, as if she was thinking about something.

"In summary, these are the 174 issues I have observed in you. Although most horse girls have some issues, I have never seen so many before."

Shinji Kitahara also felt a pang of emotion.

Having wandered for so many years and seen so many horse girls, he thought he was used to everything. But he never expected that there were always things beyond his understanding. Alice had really opened his eyes to something.

As for why he didn't see the problem with Alice from the beginning, one reason is that Alice hadn't joined the team yet, and he hadn't looked at it carefully.

On the other hand, it's because of Alice's trainer level, at least her theoretical level, which is not low; she handled those obvious problems herself.

The remaining problems would have been difficult to spot even with a seasoned trainer like Shinji Kitahara, if it weren't for him being the trainer. You might even wonder after the match how Alice could act so well.

After a moment of silence, Alice raised her head and asked seriously.

"Is there a solution?"

"Yes, but it's very troublesome and requires a lot of time and effort."

Shinji Kitahara sighed.

"And you'd better not expect to solve it with any medicine, because in my judgment, most of your problems are caused by taking medicine. Many times you think it's a convenient shortcut, but the hidden dangers left behind will not disappear."

This doesn't sound that serious, since those problems aren't major issues and can be resolved with time.

The problem is, Alice is lacking time.

Unlike Special Week and Oguri Hat, her transformation into a true character isn't just beginning, but rather more than halfway through. Compared to other Madoka Magica characters, she's already debuted quite late.

Many Uma Musume races have age limits for debut, but this is not only to protect new Uma Musume, but also to uphold the dignity of the former champions.

After three years of orthodox development, the period of decline will begin.

Although the degree of decline is limited, in a game where every second counts, even a one-second error can directly affect the outcome.

In my first year of training, I began to control my suddenly increased strength under the guidance of my trainers.

In the second year of their professional career, after their debut battle, they choose their own trainer and officially enter the arena. After a period of adaptation and accumulating experience in competitions, they can start participating in grade-level competitions.

These are the so-called G1, G2, and G3 level tournaments, also known as high-reward tournaments.

However, in the second year, although they can participate in G1, G2, and G3, the total number of events they can participate in is not many, and they are mostly held six months later. G1 level events are concentrated at the end of the year to give them more time to develop.

In the third year of the "Honkaku" era, along with the lingering glow of this new standard, the physical abilities of the horse girls will reach their peak. The number of races they can participate in will increase rapidly, and the intensity will be unprecedented. This is also the moment when legends begin to be written.

Then, in the fourth year, the era of traditionalism ended and the period of decline began. It might sound like the end of a legend, but that's not actually the case. Many legends are just getting started at this point.

Although the period of decline will follow the end of the orthodox style, this decline will take time, and during the period from decline to retirement from the competition, the importance of technique will be especially important.

If in the third year, the horse girls, who were in the late stages of their orthodox development, were charging around recklessly thanks to their peak physical abilities.

In the fourth year, their competition will be a contest of both strength and skill. Their overall strength will be even greater than in the third year, making the event more entertaining and allowing them to participate in more competitions.

But it didn't work in the fifth year.

A year-long period of decline is enough to turn a former genius into a mediocre one.

Moreover, compared to the decline in physical fitness, the psychological problems of the female horse riders are even more serious.

Those horse girls who haven't achieved anything are alright.

Those who have achieved success, especially those who have stood at the top, rarely maintain a calm mindset when they watch helplessly as what they once possessed slips away from them, while they themselves are powerless to do anything about it.

Talent, ability, victory, even hope...

They could only watch helplessly as these things disappeared little by little from their arms, and no matter how much they struggled, it was all in vain.

However, there is still one thing they were able to leave behind.

Yes, that's a trainer.

So now you know why Treson trainers have such an absurdly high turnover rate, right?

After seeing all this, when we turn our attention back to Alice, we can see the seriousness of the problem.

She has already spent more than half of her time in the main event, and should have participated in competitions for some time, or even attended the big prize tournaments, but she has only just found a trainer.

Although the competition organizers do not prohibit authentic, overdue horse girls from participating, in reality, many horse girls debut at their peak, make a quick buck, and then leave.

The problem is that only horse girls and trainers who know they lack talent and have thick skin would adopt such a strategy.

While Alice may be thick-skinned, she is no mediocre person.

Starting to compete now, although it's a little late, is still within the normal range. But if you spend a lot of time fixing those minor problems, you'll definitely be late.

Of course, it's not impossible to adjust the problems while participating in the competition, but firstly, it's easy for unexpected things to happen.

Secondly, if she goes to the competition with so many problems, she will probably lose every game until she has resolved them. And once she gets used to losing, the psychological problems that may result are greater than all those minor troubles combined.

These are all things that have been written in textbooks, and as a theoretical expert, Alice certainly understands them.

After a long silence, she suddenly chuckled softly, then revealed a smile that seemed no different from usual.

"Alright, there's no need to worry so much. My main job is still as a researcher. Competitions are just a way to get funding. At worst, I'll just lose in the first year. I don't care anyway..."

despair--

Shinji Kitahara's information board hit her on the head, interrupting her.

"If you really didn't care, you wouldn't have chosen to debut at this time."

"Retract the data version," Kitahara Shinji said dejectedly, without even glancing at her.

"Anyway, although it's troublesome, I'll help you find a way, since I promised to be your trainer."

"However, I also have a requirement: you must listen to everything I say during this period, not only on the training field, but also in what you eat and wear at other times."

Alice paused for a moment, her smile vanishing for a split second before slowly returning, this time with an even more enigmatic meaning.

"Oh dear, am I supposed to listen to everything you say? Guinea Pig, are you up to something...?"

Boom——

The information board hit her on the head again, this time with a bit more force.

But unlike before when she was distracted, this time Alice watched the board come crashing down right before her eyes.

But she did not choose to resist or fight back; instead, she let the thing hit her head while still smiling.

"Don't cause me any trouble."

Shinji Kitahara rolled his eyes at her, then turned his head to the side and looked at Special Zhou, who was not far away and looked completely bewildered, even unable to walk properly.

"I still have a lot to do."

Alice blinked and smiled, "Do you need my help, Guinea Pig?"

Shinji Kitahara gave her a disapproving look.

"The biggest help you can give me is simply not causing me any trouble."

----------

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Did you just call me?

I feel a little unfamiliar with my body right now.

They only trained for one morning, there was no damage, and they looked exactly the same as before.

But now, she even has some difficulty walking normally, and her eyes are filled with confusion.

"It's normal."

Shinji Kitahara's voice rang out, and she turned to look at him, then heard him continue speaking.

"Learning a new running style is not an easy task. Even for professionally trained female racers who have participated in many races, it takes months of practice and learning to fully master a new running style that they have never encountered before, and they may not even succeed in the end."

"However, I felt that it would take too long, be inefficient, and the results might not be good, so I thought of switching to a more efficient solution—the one you're using now."

"The principle behind this approach is very simple. Traditional learning methods start from the smallest details and gradually shift and improve existing running habits, which takes a lot of time."