A month passed in the blink of an eye.
At the Stella Club, Derek Su sat solemnly at the head of the hall with his arms crossed.
"Everyone, the provincial race is tomorrow."
The atmosphere in the hall immediately turned serious.
Normally, various regions would host practice races between provincial Advancement Races. However, after the Mermaid Bay Advancement Race ended, the organizers across the country had collectively gone silent.
Derek Su had wanted to take the Mecha Girls to compete in a practice race, but there were none available.
Only after asking Mr. Xavier did he learn why.
The provincial race was extremely important, so every competitor was training with their Mecha Girls at their respective clubs while conserving their energy and keeping themselves in peak physical and mental condition. An accident during a practice race could affect their performance in the provincial race. Winning or losing could also influence a Mecha Girl's mood and morale.
For instance, imagine running into a monster like Derek Su during a practice race.
How could that not crush someone's confidence?
As a result, organizers had gradually stopped hosting practice races before the Panlong Mountain Circuit. No one wanted to participate, which meant there was no money to be made. There was no point wasting the time and effort.
Derek Su had spent most of the past month training the Mecha Girls.
Every Mecha Girl in the club had improved her stats to some degree.
They had now reached the final stage of preparation. Only one task remained: allocating MP points to Stella and Purple Lightning.
"Tomorrow isn't just the Panlong Mountain race. The Knox Rally is happening too!"
Vanessa, who was sitting beside Derek Su, raised her fist with a serious expression.
"I'm ready!"
Derek Su froze. He had been so busy preparing for the provincial race that he had completely forgotten about that.
The Knox Rally in the second half of the year was indeed being held at the same time as the provincial race at Panlong Mountain. In other words, while Derek Su was racing on the Panlong Mountain Circuit, Vanessa would take to the track with Blazing Wind, provided she was capable of competing in the Knox Rally.
However, given Vanessa's physical condition, there was no way she could enter an official race.
She was far too young!
"What exactly are you ready for?" Derek Su's expression darkened. "You haven't even passed my test yet. How can you say you're ready?"
Vanessa blinked her large eyes innocently.
"Don't Blazing Wind and I just have to pass your test? We're completely confident!"
She truly did seem confident. Her tone was firm, as though Derek Su's test posed no challenge at all.
Derek Su glanced at Blazing Wind.
Blazing Wind could only smile awkwardly and quickly lower her head.
Vanessa was relentless. Every day, she came up with a new way to persuade Blazing Wind to train with her.
Blazing Wind had never been good at refusing people. Moreover, Vanessa had shown no signs of any safety issues when linking with her. Over the past three months, they had trained in every type of exercise imaginable.
Blazing Wind had not even had a chance to deliberately slack off and slow Vanessa's progress. Vanessa had even obtained her pilot's license.
Derek Su sighed. He could not go back on his word.
Judging from Vanessa's determined expression, she had made up her mind to pass his test and compete in the Knox Rally.
In that case, he would simply make the test more difficult.
"Vanessa, let me make one thing clear beforehand," Derek Su said solemnly. "We made an agreement. If you and Blazing Wind fail my test, you're never allowed to bring up competing in the Knox Rally again!"
"I know." Vanessa nodded with a serious expression. "We keep our promises!"
"Good."
Derek Su agreed and immediately began making arrangements.
...
Two hours later, everyone gathered at Mr. Xavier's abandoned port.
At Derek Su's request, the logistics Mecha Girls had already arranged the traffic cones.
Derek Su led Vanessa and Blazing Wind to the starting line and pointed toward the cones.
"The course has been laid out. It isn't very long, but it will thoroughly test your fundamentals. As long as you finish within ten minutes without touching a single cone, you pass."
Blazing Wind stared dumbfounded at the turns, which were more convoluted than nine-turn pork intestines.
This was supposed to test their fundamentals?
The course was filled with consecutive hairpin turns. It was narrow, the angles were vicious, and some sections even linked uphill and downhill slopes together.
He called this fundamentals?
Anyone capable of finishing this course within ten minutes could easily place in the top three on the Knox Rally course, even if they did not win.
Boss Su clearly had no intention of letting Vanessa pass.
Blazing Wind looked worriedly at the girl beside her.
To her surprise, Vanessa stared at the complex course with a determined expression, showing no trace of fear.
She was still so young. Having that kind of resolve at her age was truly remarkable.
Vanessa could also tell that Derek Su was deliberately making things difficult for her.
The test course before her was even harder than the courses she usually practiced on with Blazing Wind.
She had underestimated how demanding Derek Su's idea of a "test" would be.
But so what?
She desperately wanted to see a real racetrack for herself.
Even if she could only feel the wind while racing on it, and even if she could not win, she would still be happy.
"Blazing Wind."
Vanessa turned to her and held out her hand.
"Let's deploy."
Blazing Wind instinctively glanced at Derek Su. Seeing that his expression remained calm, she took Vanessa's hand and entered deployed mode.
The two of them took their positions at the starting line.
Beto Ming approached Derek Su and glanced toward Blazing Wind, concern filling his eyes.
"Derek Su, will this really be all right?"
"Don't worry," Derek Su said calmly. "If they pass this test, I'll wash my hair while standing on my head."
"I meant Vanessa competing in the Knox Rally. Will she really be all right?"
Derek Su froze.
"Beto, you..."
Beto Ming gave a bitter smile.
"I'm worried about Vanessa's safety, of course. But I also know how badly she wants to race. It's her only wish.
"I've watched her train tirelessly over the past three months, including practicing emotional control. She watched horror movies, comedies, and other highly emotional films. Sometimes she could barely breathe, and I was ready to give her medicine, but she forced herself through it without any help... She's worked so hard. Wasn't all of it for her dream?"
Anyone willing to pursue a dream deserved respect.
Derek Su pursed his lips and lowered his head in thought.
"I'll be honest with you. If Vanessa can complete this test course within fifteen minutes, then she has more than enough skill to compete in the Knox Rally.
"The only thing we need to worry about is her emotional control.
"After all, the emotions triggered by training and those triggered by an official race are completely different."
"I understand."
Beto Ming took a deep breath.
What else could he say?
He did not want to stand in the way of his daughter's dream.
All he could do was believe in Vanessa and believe in Blazing Wind.
Derek Su walked to the starting line and raised the starting pistol.
Bang!
The instant the gun fired, Blazing Wind shot forward.
The Mecha Girls of the Stella Club watched nervously.
Would Vanessa and Blazing Wind pass the test?
...
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