Preliminary Test (Happy New Year)

A few days later, in the afternoon, at the Central Treisen Academy track.

Standing outside the fence of the outermost turf track, Anjing Zhen carried a shoulder bag and scribbled incessantly on a tablet, with the ambitious Kitasan Black by his side.

"OK, I'm all set on my end."

After confirming the track data, Anjing Zhen tilted his head to look at Kitasan Black, who was warming up beside him.

"Little Kita, you..."

Before he could finish, she vaulted over the fence with a grunt, stood at attention, and saluted Anjing Zhen, her voice brimming with impatience.

"I'm ready! We can start whenever!"

"Mm, full of vigor. Let's start with an 1800-meter turf run."

Pulling the stopwatch from his pocket and signaling for Kitasan Black to stand at the starting point of the training session, Anjing Zhen instructed:

"Don't overthink it. Just run like you usually do. Are you ready?"

"No problem at all! I'm ready, Trainer!"

"Mm... good."

Glancing at Kitasan Black's starting stance, Anjing Zhen raised the stopwatch.

"Three, two... one!"

As he reached one, he whipped his arm down.

At the Same Time, the ground seemed to tremble, and a figure traced a black shadow across his field of vision.

This kind of power... it really is exaggerated.

Watching that black shadow, Anjing Zhen couldn't help but recall what happened a few days ago. He remembered the same faint, lingering tremor of the ground, followed instantly by a figure with short black hair rapidly enlarging in his eyes.

However, he quickly composed himself, keeping his gaze locked on Kitasan Black's figure on the track, and pressed the stopwatch precisely as she passed the distance markers along the fence.

About two minutes later.

Running up to Anjing Zhen with a look of anticipation, showing no signs of having just run 1800 meters, Kitasan Black wiped non-existent sweat from her forehead and blinked.

"How is it, Trainer? How did I run just now?"

"Rest for 5 minutes, then run three more times."

Without offering an evaluation, Anjing Zhen held the stopwatch and tablet in one hand while writing on the screen with the other, saying calmly:

"When you run, you're mostly unaware of how many meters you've covered or how long you've been running, right?"

"How did you know, Trainer?"

Taken aback, Kitasan Black scratched her head.

"Yeah, I've always just looked ahead and ran as hard as I could.

"The teachers said to keep an eye on the markers, but I tried a few times and slowed down because I got distracted, so I stopped paying attention to the distance.

"Trainer, is... is that a serious problem?"

Still not rushing to evaluate, Anjing Zhen shook his head.

"The data error from a single run is too large, and I need to assess your physical limits. Let's finish the three laps first."

"No problem!"

Nodding without hesitation, Kitasan Black flexed her arms, full of vigor.

"I don't feel like I need any rest; I can run right now. Is that okay, Trainer?"

Scanning Kitasan Black's complexion and sensing her breath, Anjing Zhen shook his head.

"I said rest for 5 minutes, so that means 5 minutes..."

He stopped mid-sentence, seeing his Horse Girl's expression stiffen and realizing his tone might have been a bit blunt, so he changed his phrasing:

"You have to give me some time to organize the data, right? Wait five minutes for me, and it'll be the same for every lap after this."

Kitasan Black brightened up immediately.

"Okay! Then I won't bother you, Trainer!"

Over half an hour later.

"Phew... how was it, Trainer? Was my performance just now okay?"

Finally showing a hint of fatigue, with a few beads of crystal-clear sweat on her temples, yet still looking spirited, Kitasan Black stood by the fence after finishing four 1800-meter laps and looked at Anjing Zhen excitedly.

This kind of stamina... isn't it a bit excessively strong?

Even though he had already studied Kitasan Black's physical data, seeing it with his own eyes now, Anjing Zhen was still somewhat shocked.

A Horse Girl's speed is high, but high-speed running also consumes a massive amount of stamina.

If this were a race, an average Horse Girl would need to rest for over an hour after one lap, and would need to adjust and relax for the next two or three days to avoid potential hidden injuries.

Even for practice, the intensity of four consecutive 1800-meter laps is not small; most other Horse Girls would be panting heavily by now.

Yet, the one in front of him only looked a little tired; this level of stamina was truly unusually strong.

At the Same Time, Anjing Zhen vaguely recalled that the Kitasan Black of the other world also seemed to possess exaggerated physical stamina, having undergone incredibly intense special training before her debut that laid the foundation for her subsequent astonishing achievements.

However, he did not intend to adopt that kind of special training.

The Japanese Horse Racing World of his past life had a late start, and its training methods could be described as backward; many of those special training regimens were suspected of exploiting the horses.

The training intensity endured by the Kitasan Black of that other world was even more extreme, a fact that had been criticized within the Japanese industry for a long time.

Moreover, aside from a few rare horses like Kitasan Black, not a single one could have survived it.

This method was undoubtedly too cruel, and since the one receiving training now was a lively and adorable Horse Girl, Anjing Zhen asked himself if he could be as unscrupulous as his "peers" from his past life.

What's more, he possessed better and safer training methods.

"You did very well."

After praising Kitasan Black, seeing the girl instantly beam with joy, Anjing Zhen couldn't help but smile himself.

Following that, he handed the stopwatch and tablet to Kitasan Black and walked onto the track from an entrance a few meters away.

"Trainer, what are you doing...?" Kitasan Black asked, surprised.

"I'm just going to run a simple 100 meters... don't worry about the speed; I certainly can't run as fast as you."

Standing near the fence, he pulled off his tie to blindfold himself, and Anjing Zhen "looked" toward Kitasan Black.

"What you need to pay attention to is my grasp of distance and time."

"Distance and time... Okay! I will watch carefully!"

"Good."

After nodding, without giving any warning, Anjing Zhen pushed off the ground with force in the pitch-black darkness and sprinted forward.

About 10 seconds later.

Breathing slightly, he took off the tie and looked back at Kitasan Black, asking:

"Did you notice?"

"Notice...? Ah, I understand."

After a moment of stunned silence, Kitasan Black's ears twitched, and she pointed at the marker board by the fence.

"Trainer... you ran exactly 100 meters, not a bit more, not a bit less!

"And you did it without looking at the marker board at all...

"No, you did it without looking at anything!"

Hmm, her intuition is quite good.

Secretly praising his Horse Girl, Anjing Zhen tied his tie back on, walked to Kitasan Black's side outside the track, and began to explain.

"Whether you look at the markers or not, you should be able to realize roughly how far you've run and how much time has passed.

"This is very important during a race, especially in high-pressure ones.

"Combined with your grasp of your stamina and the situation of your opponents, only then can you accelerate when you need to, and Conserve Stamina when you don't.

"Of course, this is important, but the reason I said it wasn't a severe issue is because you have a more obvious and direct problem."

"A more obvious and direct problem..."

Twitching her ears, her Ear Tip drooping slightly, Kitasan Black twisted her hands together and picked at her fingers.

"Is it regarding my strength...?"

Happy New Year to all my readers!