"Bro, you kidding me?!"
"Are you for real???"
Most of the time, Lin Anran—a cold-hearted young doctor whose only concern was how to squeeze gold coins out of Uma Musume—could remain perfectly calm and composed. But right now, not a shred of that composure remained!
Because on his computer screen was displayed the outstanding performance of a rookie racehorse girl named Secretariat.
Not only had she already debuted, but she'd even won a G3 stakes race?!
When he left, Secretariat had been nothing but a small fry who got wrecked in her debut race, bumped right out of the gate before suffering a crushing defeat!
So how the hell did she suddenly have such decent results now?!
This… was a little too ridiculous, wasn't it?
Lin Anran stayed frozen, his forehead pressed against the screen for several seconds, before finally slumping back into his chair.
The scheming young doctor's eyes had gone completely vacant.
'If she could've won even a little earlier, I wouldn't have had to come to Japan in the first place…'
But life had a funny way of working.
The more you regretted something, the more your brain scrambled to justify your choices—to convince yourself you hadn't made a mistake.
"I-It's just one measly G3 win."
Stubborn. Absolutely stubborn.
"American dirt races are the toughest in the world! Secretariat only won a low-tier stakes race. Even if I'd stayed, my cut of the prize money would've been peanuts."
"But now that I've become Platinum, I get all the winnings! Coming to Japan wasn't a mistake!"
After this round of self-reassurance, Lin Anran gradually cooled down.
And with that, the familiar big red in his mind was quietly reclassified—no longer just a small fry, but something closer to…
[A slightly valuable small fry]
Anyway, she had some worth, but not enough to make this black-hearted young doctor regret his life choices.
Now calmer, Lin Anran turned his attention back to the screen, which displayed not just Secretariat's info and recent race records but also post-match interviews and journalist commentary.
A flicker of curiosity made him keep reading.
[Reporter: Congratulations on your dominant victory in your first stakes race!]
[It's been just a week since your debut, yet you've already taken on another race—truly a display of relentless fighting spirit.]
[May we ask what drives you to compete so fiercely? Is there a specific goal or reason behind this?]
In this text interview, the reporter pressed Secretariat about her relentless racing schedule.
And her answer was…
[Secretariat: I made a promise with someone. It'll be fulfilled once I become the strongest.]
[Secretariat: So I've started taking races a little more seriously. That's all.]
A short reply, a simple interview.
After all, this was just a low-tier G3 stakes race. Whether in Japan or the U.S., races like this happened dozens of times a day.
And the U.S.? It was the undisputed pinnacle of dirt racing, where so-called prodigies were a dime a dozen.
To truly prove yourself, to become a recognized elite, you had to dominate multiple stakes races.
So right now, Secretariat wasn't that noteworthy yet.
After skimming the brief interview, Lin Anran's expression twisted into something complicated.
Hah?
Wait…
Had his leaving lit a fire under this Big Red?
Was that why she'd suddenly started performing so well?
That promise—something he'd tossed out carelessly to avoid upsetting the American fillies—could it… backfire on him?
Because Lin Anran hadn't just made that promise to Secretariat alone!
From her to Dahlia, to Ruffian, to Sea the Stars—hell, even to some fillies whose names he could barely remember—he'd said the same damn thing to every single one of them!
After all, only a handful of racehorse girls in the entire world could ever be called the strongest. The small fries he knew had zero chance, so he'd just spouted that line to all of them.
"I-It's… probably fine, right?"
"No way this'll come back to bite me… right?"
His voice trailed off weakly.
For some reason, the black-hearted young doctor felt an uneasy premonition creeping up on him.
In the end, he closed the webpage and forcibly shifted his focus.
"Whatever, not gonna dwell on it. Let's check out my treatment rewards first."
"Even halfway through treating that big spender Tokai Teiou, the rewards were pretty sweet. Now that I've fully healed her, what's the rest of the payout?"
Lin Anran decided to review the system rewards he'd earned from treating the fillies lately.
Gotta earn those medical fees and system rewards—that's what makes a healthy business model!
[Opening Treatment Rewards Panel]
[Note: The more racehorse girls you treat (and the better you treat them), the more your transformation progression and innate skills will improve.]
[Treated: Katano Shouko (Minor Injury)]
[Reward: Horse Mint +1% (Pre-Transformation)]
[Treated: Kanamori Reiko (Minor Injury)]
[Reward: Horse Mint +1% (Pre-Transformation)]
[Treated: Kanazawa Yuuki (Minor Injury)]
[Reward: Horse Mint +1% (Pre-Transformation)]
[Treated: …]
After skipping past the mountain of insignificant Horse Mint upgrades, Lin Anran finally found the entry for Tokai Teio.
[Treated: Tokai Teio (Severe Fracture) (Fully Healed)]
[Reward: Platinum Transformation Progression +10%, Platinum's Token of Conviction (Potential Boost)]
[Current Platinum Transformation Progression: 15%]
The moment he finished reading, Lin Anran froze in place.
Hah?
Aside from the Transformation Boost, what the hell was this drop?
[Platinum's Token of Conviction]? What kind of nonsense was that?
Even back when he played Arknights, Lin Anran had been the type to skip all story, instantly look up guides on Bilibili for stages, and generally turn off his brain—
But at the very least, he still understood key game mechanics and items. He wasn't that far gone as a Doctor.
A Token—in his memory and understanding—was an item in Arknights used to enhance Operators, specifically to raise their Potential.
And Potential? That thing that reduced Deployment Costs, boosted ATK, shortened redeployment time, enhanced Talents…
Usually, Lin Anran only saw these when he got spooked in the gacha.
So why the hell was he, as Platinum, getting Tokens now?!
Baffled, Lin Anran immediately clicked to check.
[Platinum's Token of Conviction]
[Effect: …]
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.