Current Essence: 5796
Master Yi: 450 Essence
'I've got more than enough Essence, so why can't I buy Master Yi? This is ridiculous! Is this some kind of system bug?'
Barbatos was baffled. Had the system detected that she'd been using someone else's account to grind ranked wins for Essence, rendering all that accumulated Essence fake and invalid?
"You never said I couldn't use someone else's account! Even if you're going to fix the bug, at least let me spend the Essence I have now!"
Her cheeks puffed out in frustration, filled with a sense of grievance.
Anyone would be upset after discovering the Essence they'd grinded for so long couldn't actually be used to buy a champion.
She wondered if the system could even hear her.
[Ding!]
[Detected that all of the host's Essence was obtained from League of Legends: Wild Rift. System will now generate the Wild Rift champion store. Please wait…]
A string of mechanical words appeared in Barbatos's mind, making her instantly understand why she couldn't buy the champion.
The champion store in front of her was from the PC version of League of Legends, while her Essence was earned from the mobile version. The two types of Essence weren't interchangeable.
Patting her flat chest, she let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the system notification.
[Ding!]
[League of Legends: Wild Rift champion store update complete.]
Opening the Wild Rift store, she saw it had far fewer champions than the PC version, but most of the ones she originally intended to buy were still there.
"Phew, at least all that effort wasn't a complete waste."
She searched for [Master Yi] in the store, ready to make the purchase.
[[Master Yi (5500 Essence)]. Confirm purchase?]
"NO!"
"Ugh, you scam artist of a system!"
"Just because it's the mobile game store, you think you can jack up every champion's price to 5500 Essence?!"
The system's store perfectly mirrored the notorious pricing of League of Legends: Wild Rift. This meant the Essence she earned from the mobile game could only buy a [Master Yi] priced at 5500 Essence.
If she had earned the Essence from the PC version, she could have bought [Master Yi] for just 450 Essence.
"Master Yi? Not even a dog would buy him at that price!"
It wasn't just [Master Yi]; she wasn't going to buy any of the champions she had previously considered, as it would be a total rip-off.
To think that [Master Yi], a champion she could've gotten for 110 MVP performances in the PC version, would cost her a month and a half of savings in the mobile game! It was utterly unfair!
The only way to cut her losses now was to buy a champion with a relatively high original price.
She needed to aim for champions that cost 6300 or 4800 Essence in the PC store; only then could she minimize the loss.
In fact, buying a 6300-Essence PC champion in the mobile store would actually be a gain.
She quickly scanned the list of 6300-Essence PC champions. Most either weren't released in the mobile store yet or weren't very useful for her needs.
The most suitable one seemed to be [Teemo], priced at 6300 Essence.
W Skill [Move Quick]: Passive - Increases Movement Speed by 10% when not taking damage from enemy champions. Active - Dashes forward, gaining 20% bonus Movement Speed for 3 seconds. (Cooldown: 16.5 hours)
Unlike the active burst of speed from [Master Yi]'s [Highlander], this skill's passive directly boosted her movement speed by 10%. While less explosive, it seemed more consistently useful.
It would at least help cover her weakness of not being inherently fast enough.
[[Teemo (5500 Essence)]. Confirm purchase?]
"Yes!"
[Congratulations, host, on acquiring new champion [Teemo].]
--+--
Dual-Bloom System
Name: Barbatos
Gender: Uma Musume
Summoner Spells: [Heal] [Ghost]
Talent: Unlocked after possessing 5 champions
Owned Champions: Hecarim, Teemo
Equipped Skills:
Passive 1 [Path of War]: Gain Attack Damage equal to 12%-24% of Barbatos's bonus Movement Speed (at levels 1/3/6/9/12/15/18).
Skill 1 [Devastating Charge]: Barbatos becomes ghosted and gains 25% Movement Speed, increasing over 4 seconds to 65% (based on active duration). Her next attack knocks back the target and deals (30/50/70/90/110 +50% bonus AD) to (60/100/140/180/220 +100% bonus AD) physical damage. Knockback distance and damage scale with distance moved during the skill's activation.
Skill 2 [Move Quick]: Passive - Barbatos's Movement Speed is increased by 10/14/18/22/26%. This effect is removed if she takes damage in the last 5 seconds. Active - Barbatos sprints, gaining double the passive bonus for 3 seconds. This effect persists even if she takes damage during this time.
--+--
[Champion Store (Purchasable with Blue Essence)]
[Equipment Store (Purchasable with Gold)]
Current Blue Essence: 296
Current Gold: 0
--+--
After equipping [Teemo]'s [Move Quick] into her skill slot, Barbatos immediately felt her body become much lighter.
Back when she was running full tilt with Urara, she could only keep pace thanks to the 12% movement speed boost from [Path of War]. Now, with [Move Quick] added to the mix, she figured she could finally pull ahead of Urara.
'Even without activating [Ghost] or [Devastating Charge], the entrance re-exam should be in the bag now.'
'Might as well order a laptop too. It'll be perfect for streaming PC games from the dorm after I get in.'
If Urara managed to pass the entrance exam for Tracen Academy, then she, Barbatos, must have had a chance even before getting this system. Now that she could match Urara six times out of ten without even using active skills, she surely wouldn't fail the re-exam... right?
For some reason, a nagging worry crept in. After two months of preparation, the re-exam was finally here, and the pressure was getting to her.
It felt a lot like repeating your final year of high school after failing the college entrance exams—the stress was always so much heavier the second time around.
She decided against blowing off steam in a low-stakes, low-rank 'smurfing' match in Summoner's Rift.
Tucking her phone into her pocket, she stepped onto the treadmill and started to run.
For an Uma Musume, when exam anxiety strikes, the best remedy is to run! Run to your heart's content!
All for a better school life at Tracen Academy!
--+--
The next day, August 10th.
At the Tracen Academy re-examination site in Kochi City, several senior students from the academy had arrived to observe.
The general skill level of the Uma Musume in Kochi City was already apparent from the initial exam. This re-exam was simply an opportunity for those who underperformed the first time to gain admission to Tracen Academy without waiting until the next year.
The re-examination candidates filed into the venue. Spotting the crowd of onlookers outside the field, one senior remarked, "Is that Urara over there?"
They had a favorable impression of this junior. While her initial results hadn't been outstanding, her personality during the interview had been enough to earn her a place at Tracen.
Most of the other Uma Musume who were on par with her had already been eliminated in the first round.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 1 Chapter 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.