"What's our trainer is like…?"
"Yeah! Your trainer's name is Igo Heita, right? He's currently the talk of the academy."
McQueen questions whether the rumors about him are good or not, but considering him, it is most likely bad. He's annoying, rude, crude, smug, arrogant, handsome, stupid, an idiot, cute, and hers. Surely his bad image will deter anyone from trying to approach him.
"He's an idiot."
"Yeah! He sure acts like an idiot!"
"He talks without a filter."
"Yeah! It's never dull around him!"
"Seriously, that man may benefit from some reeducation by my family."
"Eeeh?! I think he is as fine as he is!"
When McQueen and Teio's classmates were asking about their trainer, they weren't expecting such a different answer from both of them. Every time McQueen talks, they would frown but then quickly smile back when Teio let out her thought. This whole routine continues, and the classmates could feel their facial muscles burning from changing so much.
"I–I see… He sounds… Unique…"
"I guess that's a good way of explaining him."
Neither McQueen nor Teio could exactly put another image next to their trainer. He is one of the most unique existences they've ever met in their life. If they're willing to bet, probably ever. They know that even far into the future, no one can ever match their current trainer in the weirdness category.
"The way you both look so happy when talking about him makes me want to meet him, too."
"Ahahaha… If I were you, I would refrain from doing so."
Everyone except Teio immediately starts having cold sweat after McQueen's answer. She answers how she normally would, but there's something else behind her words now. Something cold and sinister. Something that only the strongest and bravest knight can go against.
"I mean, he is not the kindest of men, so you might get disappointed by him."
"Ahahaha… I–I see…"
"He is not kind, but he is fun! I think there's nothing wrong if you girls met him! Just don't hope for a knight in shining armor."
We wish he were because that's the only thing helping us from McQueen if we ever met him!!
"Ah! I heard you both will be having your debut races in the near future! What are your plans after it?"
"Don't you think you're putting the cart before the unicorn? Confidence is one thing, but that is simply arrogance."
"Eh~~? Can you really stuff like that, McQueen?"
"What do you mean by that, Teio?!"
"Hehe~~ If you feel intimidated by the pressure, then you can rely on me. I, myself, will bring our team to the top!"
"I never said that I'm afraid now, do I, Teio? His dream is mine to make into a reality."
The competitive thunder between Teio and McQueen causes the air to rise in temperature and dark clouds to appear above them. The surrounding Umas retreat to avoid getting struck by the thunder. They feel as if any of them even make one audible noise, a thunder dragon would strike them to ash from the storm clouds above their heads.
"Hey, aren't they from the same team?"
"I think so…? I don't even know anymore!"
XxX-XxX
"Hmm…"
So this is the limit I can gain from public knowledge, huh…
The young man had spent his free days researching training methods on the internet. From scouring multiple official Uma trainers' blogs from organizations such as JRA, BHA, France Galop, to the Mariana Trench of internet blogs that don't have any moderators, and people are throwing slurs at each other if there is even one typo in their arguments.
Most of the methods overlap with each other. It feels like they're simply copying and pasting from each other. But the truth is, those techniques simply work, which is why everyone is using them. There's a reason that orthodox is orthodox. The useless one gets filtered out and put out of commission.
I'm standing at the end line of an average trainer. If I want to improve myself, I need to start experimenting with my training methods.
This is where people who came from the family of Uma Trainer are simply a step ahead of people like Igo Heita. Unlike Igo Heita, who needs to feel around the darkness, they already have steps they can use to move forward. Steps that their ancestors had spent their entire lives to figure out. Igo Heita had been in the trainer business for like 6 years or so, which, compared to those families, is mere minutes in their timescales. The older the family, the more refined and expansive their training methods are.
"Damn…"
Like hell do I have time to experiment!! To train an Uma to reach the top where these families are sitting around is simply impossible for a newcomer with no trainer family background.
"Aoi Kiryuin…"
The young man mutters the name of his fellow trainer. Aoi Kiryuin had come from a family of Uma trainers, and she sometimes can be seen reading and writing in a notebook. It didn't take a genius to deduce that the notebook is a family heirloom full of training methods that the ancestors of the Kiryuin family have figured out.
If I remember correctly, Happy Meek debuted two weeks ago, and she won.
The young man opens up Umatube and searches for Happy Meek's debut race. It was a medium-length race.
That makes sense. When you get the notebook from Kiryuin in the game, you receive a golden stamina skill. That notebook is probably filled with stamina training methods.
The young man deduces that Teio might benefit greatly from the content of the notebook. Possibly Suzuka, too, since the more stamina she has, the longer she can be the lead.
The young man closes the Umatube once he confirms that Happy Meek won her race by 4 lengths. A sign that she has enough energy to go all out until the very end.
The young man then continues scrolling through a public trainer forum. It may be a confirmation bias, but the young man mainly finds trainers from 3rd world countries here. Unlike many trainers from wealthy trainers, these trainers are in the same shoes as the young man.
The first world trainers mostly come from a well-established trainer lineage, and they also have plenty of resources in their library from the thousands of years of Uma racing. Rarely do they ever need to experiment, as they already have a path they can take.
On the other hand, most 3rd world trainers don't really have any established trainer lineage, as their Uma racing scene can be traced back several hundred years. But this also caused a very active training methods experiment scene. Of course, this causes the people to butt heads over each other, but isn't that just the best? These kinds of scenes are the breeding ground for new training methods.
The young man had decided to learn the basics from the more established trainers, but that's it. To go from the basics, he'll spend more time searching and interacting with the less established trainers.
Revenge_Crow: I think your Uma's motivation is as important as their physical training.
Revenge_Crow: You can have talented Uma, but those mean Jack Shit when they don't want to run.
Five_Kraft: That's obvious, you dick weed.
Five_Kraft: We're talking about physical lah, not mental.
Five_Kraft: If we want that, then we'll send them to the church lah.
Nun_lovers_20: Better yet! They'll become a nun who wears a high-slit nun outfit with black straps and thigh-high socks!!
At least that guy is true to his username.