Perhaps it was from playing too much Uma Musume lately, but he actually dreamed of becoming a horse girl last night.
It was such a vivid dream. Even after waking up, he could still feel the residual strength coursing through his body.
Just as he got out of bed and headed for the bathroom, something swished behind him.
A pale purple ponytail flicked back and forth, almost as if it had a mind of its own.
A second later, he stiffened and looked over his shoulder.
What is... this?
Calm down!
Take a deep breath first. Make sure this isn't a dream within a dream!
"Haa... hoo..."
Closing his eyes, his breathing steadied, and his racing heart began to calm.
Alright.
This couldn't be a dream. It had to be a lingering hallucination from just waking up, a trick of the groggy mind.
He opened his eyes, looked back, and his expression instantly crumbled.
"Holy crap!"
The pale purple tail swayed gently. The texture of the hair was absolutely gorgeous, practically glowing in the morning light.
"It's actually real..."
The shout died in his throat. As reality set in, his eyes widened in shock.
Slowly, he looked down at his chest.
Beneath the men's pajamas, there was a slight curve. It was modest, sure, but undeniably pale and soft.
Pressing his lips together, he reached out with trembling hands.
"..."
After a moment of thorough, albeit deeply confusing self-examination, he lay back on the bed, feeling completely numb.
A beat passed. Then he shot up, jammed his feet into slippers, and bolted for the bathroom.
The moment he stepped inside, he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror.
Uma Musume, Mejiro McQueen!
Known among players as the "Chubby Filly," "Heavyweight Ojou-sama," and "Board McQueen," she was one of the most popular characters in the franchise!
In the mirror, the famously aloof young lady blinked back at him with a deadpan expression.
Only one thought echoed in his mind.
The real-life Chubby Filly is incredibly gorgeous!
"Who is this breathtaking, ethereal beauty standing before me? Oh, right. It's me."
A toilet flushed in the background.
Mejiro McQueen walked out of the bathroom with a relaxed sigh.
Honestly, his adaptability was terrifyingly high.
He was already perfectly accustomed to this body. Nothing felt out of place.
Sure, his "little brother" was gone, but he didn't feel an ounce of grief. If anything, he was thrilled!
This body was bursting with health and athletic grace. It was downright intoxicating.
Beautiful and powerful. Compared to this, his original human body was total garbage.
He felt like a superhero. Boundless potential seemed to hide within every muscle.
This was way too exciting!
If he wasn't worried about causing a public panic by running around looking like this, he would have sprinted a few laps around the nearest track right now.
Returning to his room, McQueen glanced at his computer monitor. The Uma Musume game he had left running before bed was still on.
Looking closer, he noticed something was wrong.
"Huh? What is..."
It looked similar, but this was not the game from his memories.
"Where did my assigned Uma Musume go? Where is my fully leveled Mejiro McQueen?!"
The main menu usually featured a standby character. It was completely empty!
Even the background showing Trecen Academy was completely deserted. Not a single soul in sight.
"Could it be..."
Staring at the heavily altered interface, McQueen moved the mouse to the character roster.
Every single Uma Musume he had spent real money to unlock was gone.
Only one character remained unlocked.
Mejiro McQueen.
"All the alternate skins are gone too. Okay, makes sense. Let me check the skill pool... wait. What?!"
McQueen opened the character's innate skill menu. The sheer wall of iridescent and gold-tier skills nearly blinded her.
"Holy crap! Holy crap!"
"Is this the combined skill pool of every single character and support card in the game?!"
Furthermore, the unique skills from the game had been converted into standard iridescent skills. The interface indicated her own unique skill was locked.
Shock rippled through her.
A violent shudder racked her body.
"Is this the 'Zone' from the manga?!"
It was unbelievable, yet it stared right back at her from the screen.
"Okay, the roster is wiped, the support card mechanics are gone, and the gacha is deleted. But..."
McQueen's face flushed with excitement. With a skill pool like this, who needed support cards? If she learned everything here, wouldn't she be invincible?
She clicked through the skills one by one. Reading the detailed descriptions, she practically drooled.
"This is broken. Not only is the pool massive, but these skills don't even have distance restrictions anymore?!"
It was true. Skills that normally required specific track lengths in the game had their limits completely removed. It was as if the system was telling her: as long as you learn it and time it right, you can trigger a long-distance skill in a short-distance sprint!
"Perfect. I am overflowing with motivation. Let me race right now!"
McQueen was buzzing with adrenaline.
Having such an overpowered character and not pushing it to the absolute limit would be a tragic waste.
[Training]
[Story]
[Character]
[Races]
These were the only remaining functions on the main menu.
Without hesitation, McQueen clicked into the Training scenario. She wanted to explore the Story and Races tabs, but both required a fully trained character to unlock.
[Begin a new simulation training cycle?]
[Yes / No]
"Yes!"
Her consciousness suddenly launched upward. After a dizzying wave of vertigo, she woke up again.
Moments ago, she was a gamer playing at home. Now, she stood before a massive set of gates. One look was enough to confirm it.
Trecen Academy.
A stream of information flooded her mind.
"Six months. I have six months to build stamina, learn skills, and prepare for my debut race."
She stood frozen in shock.
Wait, was this simulation entirely dependent on her own physical effort?
Where was the Trainer?
Where was the team?
Nothing?
Even Trecen Academy was just an empty shell.
Aside from the fully equipped facilities, there wasn't a single person around. Not even a ghost!
So she had transferred from a grinding mobile game straight into a literal, physical prison?
Damn it.
If she weren't a thousand percent satisfied with her new body, she would have aborted the simulation right then and there.
"Don't panic. The academy might be empty, but when race day comes, the opponents won't just be bots... right?"
Surely...
Right?
She tried to comfort herself, but a chilling thought crept in.
If her guess was right, the simulation timeline matched the original game's structure.
Converted into real-time turns, a full training cycle lasted three entire years!
That meant she might have to spend three solid years entirely alone in this empty simulation.
The future looked bleak, but she was already here. She decided to push through.
Pulling a smartphone from her uniform pocket, she opened the Trecen Academy guide app. She quickly memorized the campus map and facility locations.
From that day on, Mejiro McQueen began a grueling, high-intensity training regimen.
Injuries sustained in the simulation wouldn't carry over to the real world. Because of this, she wanted to push this body to its absolute limits just to see what it could do.
Thankfully, her phone featured an AI coaching program.
It generated custom training routines based on her goals, saving her from fumbling around in the dark.
Before starting this routine, she never realized she possessed such sheer willpower.
Fortunately, the automated cafeteria produced incredibly delicious food, which helped keep her spirits high.
Plus, having the entire academy to herself meant she could monopolize the massive public baths every night. The lifestyle was honestly fantastic.
The only downside was the lack of internet. The computer in her room worked, but it only contained data on racing and Uma Musume. No games. No one to chat with. If she wasn't used to being a loner in her past life, she might have actually lost her mind.
But as the days passed, she felt her body growing stronger. Her trial run times improved fraction by fraction. The overwhelming sense of achievement kept her deeply fulfilled. Three months later, she had fully settled into the mechanical rhythm of her daily life.
Time flew by, and the six-month deadline arrived.
Guided by the system, McQueen stepped onto the racecourse. She immediately spotted several other Uma Musume, and the grandstands were packed with a roaring crowd.
However, upon closer inspection, she realized they were all just highly advanced synthetics. They felt perfectly real to the touch, but lacked any true consciousness or soul.
If she were still the man she used to be, might she harbor some impure thoughts at a time like this?
McQueen reached out and poked the body of the Uma Musume standing in front of her. Her mind was utterly devoid of any romantic or lustful intent.
She pulled her hand back and pulled up her stat panel.
Six months of relentless effort had boosted her attributes to an astonishing level.
This wasn't like the game.
There were no inheritance mechanics or support cards here.
As long as you were willing to sweat, and the body had the latent potential, you could unlock that power purely through hard work!
In the game, hitting these numbers would take a full in-game year. Here, the time requirement was drastically reduced.
Of course, it wasn't a perfect system.
In the game, developers intentionally capped player stats, only for the ceiling to rise with each new patch.
In this new reality, early-stage attributes spiked quickly through exercise, but the further she progressed, the harder it became to improve.
Regardless, the current Mejiro McQueen focused her absolute attention on the upcoming Debut Race.
She had noticed a famous star Uma Musume among the robotic opponents, one who absolutely did not belong in a rookie debut. But after a quick glance at the opponent's stats, McQueen dismissed her completely. A basic, novice-tier stat block like that posed zero threat to her current power level.
The moment the gates burst open, Mejiro McQueen surged to the front of the pack.
Since her skills no longer had strategy restrictions, she naturally chose the Runner tactic.
After all, the view from the absolute front was entirely different!