《Otherworld Festival of Metallic Speed》 Mans Pursuit of Speed At first, I didn¡¯t know why I was here. It¡¯s another world, another place, and the gods say I¡¯ll have a lot of powers. But I didn¡¯t get it, no, not at first. It¡¯s a world where the roads lead everywhere. Asphalt, tarmac, dirt, and all. It¡¯s a world with tall buildings, massive cities that never seemed to end, mountains with crazy mountain passes. At the same time, it¡¯s a world, with companies, factories, gangs, governments, and a whole lot of mundanity. So I lived half a year in this strange new world, so much like ours, but a bit more futuristic, just working as a regular office worker, earning a paycheck, renting an apartment with a massive four car garage, complete with computers and all sorts of equipment, walking to work every day. Since I didn¡¯t need a car, I didn¡¯t get why almost all the apartments I have seen came with a garage for three cars, and why they needed all these sort of gadgets. Half year of frankly, wondering whether I¡¯ve been conned. Until one fateful night, leaving late after work, I heard a loud VROOOOOM. Outside a small ramen shop, a gorgeous red Manda RX-7, okay, On closer look, it¡¯s purplish-red pearlescent paint, the city¡¯s lights glimmering on its front hood. Frankly, the city lights, so dreary previously, never looked more beautiful. It had no elaborate stickers, just a small sign at the side of the passenger seat, ¡®Night Nation¡¯, written in both English and kanji. The driver, a lady in her 30s, had a takeaway pack of ramen, in a plastic bag. I didn¡¯t know why I just stared at the car. And she noticed. ¡°Gorgeous thing, eh?¡± I heard it, but my mind didn¡¯t process it at all. I just kept looking at the car. Thinking back, my non-reaction meant she looked a bit annoyed, but small matter. ¡°Are you just going to keep staring at my car?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Her second statement snapped me out of my staring. ¡°Oh. Sorry. I should get going. Sorry.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. I went home to my apartment. But I kept thinking about the car. And the next day I called in sick to visit a car dealership. ¡°Any of these cars speak to you? A Manda? A Toyoka? A Fort?¡± The dealer smiled, he¡¯s a middle aged man, he looks to be 30s, but I reckon he¡¯s a bit older, since his hair is greying. They all look beautiful. I never noticed it before, since my way to work from my apartment took me through lovely pedestrian walkways and subterranean paths, but the cars in this world, they... shine? Or is it just the polish and bright lighting in the dealership? Either way, I walked the entire dealership, and there are cars from all price ranges. There¡¯s also a base model Manda RX-7, in blue, but I¡¯m too poor to afford one. Price tag? $240,000. I have $40,000. ¡°At that budget, why not the Manda Myata? I have an older 3rd gen model at $40,000! Or the 7th Gen Konda Sivik at $37,000!¡± ¡°Show me.¡± The choice. A small compact two door Myata, in light blue, or a four door Sivik in light silver. They¡¯ve got a choice of whether it¡¯s 4WD, rear-wheel or front wheel drive on all models. In the end, I thought the Myata looks cooler, and cleared out my bank account. Spent $40,000 It¡¯s an incredibly easy process, and the dealer passed me the keys and the papers within an hour of waiting. I sat in my Myata, inserted my key into the keyhole and started the engine, I found out why I¡¯ve been sent to this world. ¡°Welcome, master.¡± The car speaks to me, through the speakers. I thought it¡¯s just fancy UI interface, but no, it is the car itself. ¡°Do you wish to access your menu?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± The car projected something I''ve waited forever to see. A status menu.
> Driver details
Name : Phil
Driver gang : None
Driving Level : 1 (participate in 1 race to level up)
Special abilities : Gacha
Special abilities : Fabricator
Special abilities : locked (level 3)
Special abilities : locked (level 5)
Special abilities : locked (level 10)
Special abilities : locked (level 15)
Special abilities : locked (level 20)
Money : $0
Others : None
> Car details
Manda Myata 3rd Gen
Car Level : 1 (win 1 race to level up)
Special abilities : Turbo
Horsepower : 120hp
Upgrades : nil
Others : nil
Race record :
Wins 0
Losses 0
Lightness value 30
First Race The first race Once I have a car, I have to. I want to participate in a race, since that¡¯s what it takes to level up. Conveniently, on the Myata¡¯s touchscreen interface, there is a [race-menu] option, so once I select that, a menu appears, and it gives me the directions to the nearest races of my level. There¡¯s a few, but I choose the one nearest to me. Midnight. In an open air parking lot next to a road. It¡¯s really quiet, and if I pay attention I can hear speeding cars in the distance. There¡¯s probably a lot of cars racing somewhere else? On my Myata¡¯s touch screen interface, I see it say- [Newbie Racing - Beginner¡¯s races]. There¡¯s a light blue Konda Sivik parked right there. From the looks of it, it¡¯s stock, probably fresh out of the dealership too. The driver, a guy, probably is my opponent. He looks young, probably younger than me, but he''s clean shaven, neat hair, fair skinned and looks like a regular office worker I would find in the office areas around town. I smile at the guy, and the guy smiles back at me. ¡°Looks like the system arranged for us to race?¡± He sounds friendly, and we shake hands. ¡°Yeah.¡± I¡¯ve never raced before, and frankly, the guy doesn¡¯t look like he ever raced either. We¡¯re noobs. ¡°Let¡¯s do it.¡± ¡°Yeah. So... how do we do this?¡± He looks up. A drone appears out of nowhere, it¡¯s shaped like a ball with a red crystal-like center. I have no idea how it flies, but not important. ¡°The route will be sent to you now. When you are ready, move your car to the gates and wait side-by-side. Once the gate opens, the race starts. Try not to crash.¡± There¡¯s a pleasant female voice from the drone, it honestly reminds me of a newscaster. I wonder whether it¡¯s an automated voice system. We both nod, and we return to our cars. I sit in my Myata, and I look at the route marked out on my navigation system. The interface is gorgeous, and there¡¯s even some kind of holographic style display on my screen telling me where the route is. I¡¯ve got no idea where that holographic thing comes from, though, but I assume it¡¯s magic. So, I go over the route and track that we will be racing pm. I¡¯ve not raced in real life, ever, but I did play a whole lot of racing games. It¡¯s not a very long track, just a short 10km sprint across the city. Frankly speaking, that¡¯ll take about... 6 to 10 minutes if we go about about 100km/h on average, even at the corners. Feeling ready and a bit excited, but mostly nervous, I move my car to the starting line, and I could feel the sweat on my hands. My eyes lock onto the roads, it¡¯s empty at this hour, like... no other car at all. It''s the typical night view of the roads, there¡¯s just the pale yellowish glow from the streetlights, and the blue-ish lights from the skyscrapers beyond. My opponent move his car up to the starting line as well. He looks every bit as nervous as I am. I smile, and he notices. He smiles back and gives me a thumbs up. The drone moves over to the gantry machine, and then, both the gates open. "Gentlemen, start your engines!" The drone says, frankly I have no idea why I can still hear her inside my car. And the gate goes up! //The Race starts//The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. And we¡¯re off! [Rolls : 9 VS 7] Vrooooooooom! Somehow, I react faster than the other guy and I quickly gain a small lead right off the gates. [Rolls : 11 VS 14] But then, as we head straight down the road, he somehow manages to catch up. Was I not pressing the accelerator hard enough? And he passes me on my right. (Enemy is 5m ahead) Shit, pay attention! [Rolls : 16, 4 VS 11,11] Ah, somehow, I¡¯m catching up and for a moment I pass him. But then, I carried too much speed into the next corner, because it¡¯s a corner after the supermarket. In my craze to catch up, I didn¡¯t get the corner right and now he smoothly pass by my car. Ish! Woosh! (Enemy is 15m ahead) [Rolls : 10 VS 16] Out of the corner, he manages to hold onto his speed and widens his gap. I feel my car shaking, the engine roaring, but I keep my foot on the gas. I¡¯ll catch up, I tell myself. I will. Focus! Now don¡¯t blow the engine! Next is an uphill corner up the street, it¡¯s wide enough for 6 cars side by side, but there are cars parked at the side, so it¡¯s effectively just 2 lanes for us. Is it fine to actually go on the opposing direction? [Rolls : 12 VS 1] Oh he messed up! He jams his brakes and his tyres screech, just so that he didn¡¯t miss the corner. Thankfully, that mistimed brake and turn allows me to catch up and overtake him! See ya, sucker! (You are 10m ahead) [Rolls : 9 VS 17] Next segment is a long uphill straight, and my Myata has slightly less power than his, and so during this uphill part, his Sivik picks up the pace and even manages to overtake me on the straight uphill. I don¡¯t think my car was that much heavier than his though? Am I not doing something right? [Rolls : 19 VS 19] Oh next it¡¯s a long straight road, and I¡¯m just keeping up. Somehow I couldn¡¯t accelerate my car as fast as he could, so the gap remains. (Enemy is 30m ahead) [Rolls : 19, 14 VS 14, 8] Oh, 2 consecutive corners around the large office block, and I think he mis-times his brake and turn again, and I manage to close the gap and then, overtake him! Vroom! Hell yeah, I got this. [Rolls : 1 VS 4] Oh but then it¡¯s a long straight road again, and my small leads closes. Ugh. [Rolls : 18+7 VS 15] I¡¯m not going to let him catch up. So next part of the track is a long downhill straight, and I use this chance and activated my Myata¡¯s [TURBO], and I feel my body pushed back into the seat. I should get racing seats someday. For now, I feel my car surge forward. (You are 60m ahead) [Rolls : 5 VS 17+7] Next part of the race is a downhill sloped corner. Oh crap. I mess up the turn because I had too much speed, so I had to slam the brakes. This mistake gives the opponent a chance, and he quickly catches up on me . And I think he used his car¡¯s special, because I saw his Sivik¡¯s wheels glow as he overtakes my Myata. NOOOO~~~ (Enemy is 10m ahead) Crap. [Rolls : 2 VS 20] Somehow, I screw up my next downhill corner as well, and my opponent builds a huge lead ahead of me. Noooo!!!! Am I going to lose this one? I am just about to win! [Rolls : 5, 12 VS 15, 5] On the flat straights, emerging out of the downhill corner, he speeds ahead, and manages to build a bigger lead. But I think he might have slowed down a bit on the later part, because I close the gap a little. But he¡¯s no longer right in front of me, the back of his Sivik gradually shrinking. I feel like shit. I really am going to lose? (Enemy is 140m ahead) [Rolls : 6 ,5, 15 VS 12, 1, 3] Out of the next two corners, and then one segment of straights, I somehow managed to close the gap, but still, I''ll have to do a lot better to catch up. The gap he had is just far too big. Unless he massively screws up his last corner, I would lose this match. [Rolls : 13 VS 8] He didn¡¯t. Last corner, I turn the steering wheel on my Myata, frankly, not sure where I found a sudden burst of focus and inspiration, and without realising it, the gap between our two cars shrunk a bit more, but still, I¡¯ve lost it. I could see the finish line right out of that last turn. Two large glowing lights mark the finish line, and in my windscreen I could see a ¡®finish¡¯ splashed all over it. There is no more track left for me to catch up. Ugh. My first race is a loss. So much for beginner''s luck. (Enemy has reached the finish line. Winning margin is 65m) //The Race Ends!// Race rewards : +$1,000 You gained a level! I park my car right next to the winning guy, and he¡¯s waiting for me. ¡°Hey, I won. Erm... no hard feelings, yah?¡± He offers his hand. I sigh, but I shake his hand. ¡°Yeah. Can¡¯t always win.¡± ¡°See you around. We¡¯ll meet again someday.¡± Race Roll details
MC Roll(20d20)+0: 9,11,16,4,10,12,9,19,19,14,1,18,5,2,5,12,6,5,15,13,+0 Total:205
Enemy Roll(20d20)+0: 7,14,11,11,16,1,17,19,14,8,4,15,17,20,15,5,12,1,3,8,+0 Total:218
Shopping for Car Parts I lost. But I felt like... okay. It''s just like those racing games I used to play. Had to grind through many races until I get the hang of it, and I will get better. Maybe I should get more practice, and buy some upgrades. "Hey car, where can I go to upgrade you?" I should give my car a name someday. That''s what everyone does, right? "Searching for workshops nearest to you..." And the screen highlighted a few places. Most of them look like regular workshops, at least, the name sounds... normal. "Any idea whether I can afford the upgrades?" I only have a $1,000! The car didn''t reply. Maybe it''s not something it had an answer for. The nearest shop was just one kilometer away, a few minutes drive. Once I arrived there, a typical dirty looking mechanic, his clothes covered in oil and grease, smiles at me. He looked quite young, though. "Hey, newbie looking for an upgrade?" He didn''t look very interested, but he talked to me. "Uh yeah, how did you know?" "Stock car, stock paint, fresh license sticker, no decals and windscreens without any logos or signs. Totally reeks of newbie." You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. "Ah." "So yea, I am trying to get upgrades... uhm, what do you have?" "Shop is right there." The mechanic pointef to an airconditioned room next to the garage. Well, it looks like a shop. "These days you can order parts online, just gonna check whether its compatible with your model. A little troublesome to set up your car details on the online marketplace, but seriously, most guys just order online and ask us to install. You should do the same." "Uh." Okay. "Did ya win?" "What?" "Your first race, or haven''t raced yet?" "Oh. I lost." "Ah, too bad, you''ll get over the loss. Sometimes it''s just the luck of the draw." Well, the mechanic didn''t follow me into the actual shop, and inside is a simple design, essentially a large table with a computer, also serving as a counter, some chairs, a few filing cabinets, and behind the counter, rows and rows of shelves, Like, a lot of shelves, filled with boxes. It''s more of a logistic warehouse than a shop. There''s a young lady at the counter, intensely looking at her computer screen. Stacks of invoices and order forms, paper forms, sprawl over the table. There''s a calendar with a lot of words. Booking? Appointments? She didn''t notice me. Until I sat down. "Oh. A walk in. How rare." She took out a binder file, and flipped Her fingers stop about midway in. I could see a binder divider with the title ''Manda''. "Manda MX5 entry level upgrades. Browse for yourself, alright? We charge a $500 fitting fee for Tier 1 parts." Huh, she noticed my car and quickly got to it. Interesting. She''s back, focused on whatever is on her screen, clicking and scrolling furiously. Not much customer service here. Is this normal? Anyway, I looked at the page and I realised I''ve got no money for anything.
Part Category Tier 1 part price Tier 1 effects
Suspension $3,700 Uphill +1
Aero and downforce $4,000 Downhill +1
Turbo/Supercharger $4,100 Flat +1
Tyres $3,500 Corner +1
Transmission $4,300 Straight +1
Yeah. I need more money if I ever plan to buy any of it. Sounds like I still have to keep my day job.