When Anjing Zhen saw Kitasan Black the next morning, he could tell she was much more spirited than she had been over the past few days.
After asking her about it, he learned that a friend had encouraged and supported her. He offered a few words of encouragement himself, then began the morning training.
First came a warm-up jog, followed by a review of the homework he had assigned the night before: practicing hand gestures and sitting postures.
Once he confirmed she had those down, he taught her a few new gestures and a standing pose.
"Trainer, this pose... it's so weird..."
She stood on tiptoe on one foot, with the other foot and lower leg dangling behind her.
Her hands hung loosely in front of her like a kangaroo's, while she stretched her back and head straight forward.
Holding the pose, Kitasan Black felt like she looked as if she were tiptoeing around, trying to steal something.
They were training on the Academy's sports field, where other students were also doing their morning workouts.
Seeing Kitasan Black in such a bizarre pose, quite a few students glanced over strangely or covered their mouths to hide their laughter.
"It is a little weird."
Not denying the pose's odd appearance, Anjing Zhen said casually:
"But so what if it's weird? Are you saying you don't plan to practice it?
"Or do you plan to look around like that during a race, too?"
Kitasan Black jolted.
"Oh, right. I'll have to stay focused during a race...
"I understand, Trainer. I'll train seriously!"
Anjing Zhen nodded to himself. Once he was sure Kitasan Black was focused on her training, he tapped through his tablet and opened the trainer-exclusive interface.
The trainer interface was linked to a racehorse girl's Racing Account, so it could display changes in her follower count.
501... More than a hundred new followers since yesterday?
It seemed that the fans, not just people in the industry, didn't think much of Little Kita either...
According to the procedures for racing, once a racehorse girl and a trainer signed an agreement, the Central Treisen Academy she belonged to would immediately report it to the URA Association. The Association would create her Racing Account within one or two business days.
At the same time, the Association and its partner organizations would post updates about the racehorse girl across various platforms.
If fans spotted a racehorse girl who made a good impression, or one who was already somewhat well-known, they could follow her, leave comments on different platforms, and interact with her by voting for her, among other things.
Compared to the others in her class, Kitasan Black's reputation before her debut had clearly been rather poor.
Take the young lady from the Satomi family he'd met yesterday, for example.
Although the Satomi family had only entered the Shining Series in recent years, they were a large and wealthy household that spared no expense in funding and training.
And since one of the family's racehorse girls had performed well in competitions, Satono Crown already had more than ten thousand followers before she'd even completed her Debut Race.
After two consecutive victories, her follower count had now surpassed one hundred thousand.
A hundred thousand followers was a threshold in racing. Only with that many could a racehorse girl enter OP-level races and above.
Otherwise, she could only compete in Pre-OP races or switch to dirt racing, steeplechase, or local races.
By comparison, Kitasan Black's follower count didn't even come close to Satono Crown's, before or after her debut.
Yet seeing how meager his own racehorse girl's follower count was, Anjing Zhen wasn't discouraged. He nodded, closed the linked interface, and opened the training interface.
Kitasan Black wasn't the sort of racehorse girl who looked like a genius at first glance.
If he had to name a genius, it would probably be someone like Tokai Teio, who debuted as the most popular and most promising racer, then went on to win all the way to the Japanese Derby.
It wasn't that his racehorse girl lacked exceptional qualities. Plenty of trainers had noticed her unusually great strength and healthy physique.
The problem was that turning those qualities into actual ability wasn't easy. That was why she hadn't earned much praise since entering the Academy.
In that situation, it was only natural that she didn't have much fan support.
But he happened to know how to bring out her potential, and he had insight and training methods far ahead of his time. So there was no need to worry about followers or anything like that.
"All right, hold it there."
As he worked on his tablet, Anjing Zhen kept an eye on Kitasan Black's training. This time, he'd set a timer, and as soon as the tablet gave him a reminder, he told her to stop.
"Do this pose along with the one I taught you yesterday. Train the same way.
"Once each in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Don't do more, and don't do less.
"I'll gradually teach you the entire set of poses. It'll take about half an hour to go through them all.
"Once you've learned them all, I'll help you adjust your training schedule."
When Anjing Zhen told her to stop, Kitasan Black obediently straightened up. Then she briefly stretched her legs and arms, looking a little surprised.
"Trainer, your training method... it's really unusual.
"It felt really uncomfortable and awkward at first, but I got used to it after a little while.
"And even though I held the pose for so long, I didn't feel tired. This method..."
She tilted her head, curious.
"What exactly is it for?"
When he taught her yesterday, Anjing Zhen hadn't told her what the poses were for.
The poses were a kind of specialized training from his previous life. They wouldn't have much effect in the short term; only sticking with them for a long time would make them worthwhile.
But he'd already thought of how to explain it. Kitasan Black had been too curious about the poses yesterday to ask, so he hadn't said anything.
"You can think of it as a kind of special cultivation."
After giving her a casual explanation, he looked around. Spotting a nearby flower bed, he gestured for the surprised-looking Kitasan Black to follow him.
At the flower bed, he searched around for a moment, then picked up a flat cobblestone about the size of his fist.
"Can you..."
He held the cobblestone up in front of Kitasan Black and considered his wording.
"Break this stone with a punch, or kick it apart?"
"...What are you talking about, Trainer?"
Kitasan Black stared at Anjing Zhen in bewilderment for a moment. When she saw that he seemed serious, she looked both startled and troubled.
"This... This cobblestone is so big. If it were a roof tile or something, I could kick it apart, no problem, but a cobblestone like this..."
"Oh. Then watch."
He nodded, set the cobblestone on the edge of the flower bed, and crouched slightly. He focused on the stone's center line for a moment.
Then, with a sharp intake of breath, he raised his hand and gave a low shout, turning his palm into a blade as he chopped down at the middle of the cobblestone.
"Tr-Trainer?! You..."
Kitasan Black had watched Anjing Zhen prepare uncertainly. It was only when he struck that she realized he was serious. She managed two startled cries before her voice abruptly caught in her throat.
A moment later.
"Huh—?! You... you split it?!"
"Yeah. I split it."
Holding half a cobblestone in each hand, Anjing Zhen looked at Kitasan Black.
"My strength is definitely nowhere near as great as yours, but I have no doubt that I control it far better than you do.
"There are plenty of tricks to breaking a cobblestone like this, but you don't need to learn any of them.
"You only need to know that the poses I've taught you are meant to help you control your own terrifying power.
"When the day comes that you've mastered all that power, and can concentrate your strength into your feet and legs...
"I can guarantee that no one will be able to match your speed."
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