No one could quite pinpoint when it began, but the European racing world—the very pioneers who had built the modern thoroughbred system—started to show signs of frailty.
Perhaps the glory of their forebears shone too brightly.
As inheritors of that legacy, they couldn't bear to see it dim in their own era. So, no matter the cost, they were determined to preserve their unrivaled supremacy.
Yet rather than looking inward to strengthen themselves—for deep down, the timid among them already felt mere self-improvement wasn't enough—they turned their gaze outward.
Australia, the Americas, the Middle East, Japan—one after another, regions that had once learned from Europe's playbook were now advancing at a staggering pace.
Unlike Europe beginning to show its age, the world was young, brimming with limitless potential for growth.
One day, they knew, the absolute authority Europe had cultivated would crumble under the heat of those hungry, ambitious gazes.
And the powerful figures within the European Racing Association no longer had the confidence to maintain that authority.
To honor Europe's legacy, they had to act.
Thus, the Crown Series was born from this wave of top-down anxiety.
Leveraging what remained of their head start, European racing used the Crowns to undermine the world's confidence, flaunting its strength with victory after victory.
No matter how vast the organized collective, the spectators and the racing associations formed the bedrock of the sport.
The confidence of individual competitors was finite. Under relentless pressure, even the most promising regions began to falter.
In this way, Europe clung to its absolute authority, using methods established by its predecessors.
But the European Racing Association's elite knew the truth—this was a last, desperate struggle.
The harsher the oppression, the fiercer the resentment smoldering in the shadows. Everyone could feel the fire burning in their hearts.
In such a climate of collective frustration, each region would one day produce its own prodigy—a genius capable of sweeping the European-dominated Triple Crown.
No one knew how long it would take to reach that tipping point.
Yet everyone sensed that while European racing still moved with formidable momentum and held absolute sway, the wheel of fate marking its end was already suspended overhead.
Facing an existential crisis, European racing scrambled for ways to endure.
The Triple Crown contenders, led by Shinzan, were one such attempt—a bid to divide and weaken the rival regions.
With the crisis pressing, the Association's leaders took a half-step back, conceding the Triple Crown honors to the regions themselves.
All they needed to keep was the impression of enduring superiority. After all, the Triple Crown contenders had all trained in Europe; maintaining that perception wouldn't be hard.
The plan was meant only to buy a little more time. Those in other regions who yearned to challenge Europe saw its resources thinning.
Choosing to bide their time and wait for the perfect moment, they didn't stop their own star racers from heading to Europe.
Given the state of things, Europe's authority would inevitably fall. Until then, letting their champions learn some advanced training methods seemed harmless enough.
But no one could have predicted that among those Triple Crown contenders would emerge a true monster.
Shinzan—a single Uma Musume who elevated the European training system to its peak.
With her nearly invincible performances on the track, she shattered everyone's confidence in the future.
With unstoppable force, she crushed an entire generation's will to resist.
Faced with such a seemingly unbeatable force, how could anyone hope to compete? If the European system could produce a monster who dominated the world so completely, what chance did they have?
During Shinzan's era, even the most optimistic believed progress could only resume long after she retired—only once enough time had passed for people to realize Europe wouldn't produce another such phenomenon.
Shinzan, alone, held back the tide of global rebellion.
Even though she herself had once been part of that very tide.
Later, Shinzan—aware that her mere presence bolstered Europe's oppressive momentum—chose to retire from racing.
Europe, basking in what felt like divinely ordained victories, slowly sought ways to sustain itself, while voices of dissent from other regions gradually faded.
Everyone was waiting for a better opportunity, and the world sank into an eerie stagnation.
No one moved forward. They remained in place, watching each other with detached eyes, awaiting the next era of tumult.
Everyone believed the age had settled, that no further change would come.
But then, in a remote Far Eastern nation, at a relatively obscure academy called Tracen, a new class of students arrived.
And among them was the Uma Musume who would change the world.
From a stunning debut in the selection races to shocking the world months later at the Satsuki Sho, her name sent ripples through what had been a stagnant, placid pond.
Countless individuals began to change because of her.
Innumerable events became linked through her name, ultimately converging into a global wave. Even the victory-drunk European racing world had to turn its attention to this once-overlooked racer.
The Japanese Derby—featuring five Triple Crown-caliber Uma Musume. It was nearly the strongest force the European Racing Association could muster on a month's notice.
It was their response to a world on the brink of upheaval, a heavy fist meant to quell the rising waves and return everything to stagnant calm.
Yet that heavy fist was cleanly severed, right before the eyes of the world.
From that moment, the placid world was once again swept into raging storms.
Faced with a situation that seemed to collapse in an instant, the already brittle European Racing Association panicked.
In their desperation, they even agreed to terms set by Shinzan herself, who had shown rebellious inclinations.
Now, their only hope rested on this ultimate weapon—who, even retired, remained in peak condition—to salvage what little they could of the crumbling order.
And the outcome of that final battle still echoes in people's hearts, even two years later.
That Uma Musume, with victory after victory, shattered the stagnant world. Alone, she stirred a global tide, forcing open the gates to a new era right under the nose of European opposition.
And the world answered with her name: Dream Weaver.
In an age where everyone waited for the perfect moment, she stepped forward and became the world's guide.
Countless people followed in her wake, rising once more in rebellion for a track filled with dreams and hope.
Yet, just as the world roared and surged because of her, Dream Weaver—the very leader of that tide—vanished from public view after that earth-shaking victory.
And remained unseen… until now.
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T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 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.