Chapter 64: The Mount Vault

Hugh wanted to grab him and spin him around—he felt so excited—but he refrained. He ran his hands through his hair, dislodging a rain of sand as he tried to think of where he could find good gear quickly. The shopping malls might have something he could use and maybe his Engineer could craft him a few things in the allotted time. If all else failed, he knew he might have some of what he needed in his Vault, but would it be enough? If Tech bonuses increased the more his own stats increased, then he definitely still needed to train.

"There's so much to do," Hugh said, feeling the enormity of the task in front of him. "We should—"

"Go take a shower, eat breakfast, and go meet the Director," Dex interrupted. It killed Hugh's momentum. "You should also think about what you want to say to Frankie, because the next few days are going to be busy if you're going to do this. You won't have as much free time to see him."

Frankie. Right. He'd nearly forgotten about the man. Hugh grimaced when he thought of what it must say about their budding relationship. Arlyle had been right to ask whether he felt any passion for the doctor. He wasn't sure he did. While the idea of having someone waiting at home was nice and he'd been taught it was what every man needed in their lives to be happy, it wasn't exactly what he wanted.

So what did he want?

Hugh considered the question, his gaze falling on Dex's back as the Navigator headed for their house. He knew in an instant—that was what he wanted. He wanted a man who'd go on adventures with him. Someone who'd bring his head out of the clouds when it was necessary, but could also share his joy over things only a gamer could appreciate.

Frankie might get awestruck over the items Hugh would bring him, but he'd be focused on how to use them. Hugh didn't think the mature doctor would really understand the rush a gamer felt when he overcame a trial to acquire something. He might coo over Hugh's achievements and praise him for being good at his job, but he wouldn't truly grasp what his job meant.

That was where Hugh's passion laid. Not in the search for true love or physical pleasure, but in the moment of discovery and victory every gamer experienced at the end of a long quest. If he were to have a man in his life, it would have to be one who could share his passion, because he thought those were the only times he'd be able to truly connect with another person.

He didn't think he'd ever experience a moment like that with Frankie, no matter how good of a man he seemed to be.

"Are you coming?" Dex called from the edge of the beach.

"Yeah," Hugh replied, jogging over to join his Navigator for the walk back to the house. "I just made a decision, I think."

Dex shot him a look full of curiosity. "Are you going to share?"

Feeling impish, Hugh grinned and shook his head. "Nope. Maybe later. I have a few things I need to deal with first."

Hugh's Navigator really hated being left in the dark. While they got ready for the day, he called through Hugh's bathroom door multiple times to ask questions concerning his decision. Was it something about the gear he wanted to find? Did it have something to do with how they'd be training? Their meeting with the Director?

Hugh laughed off all the attempts to figure it out, finding it amusing how riled up Dex became the longer he went without knowing.

Once they were showered, dressed, and ready to leave for breakfast in Nexus, Hugh distracted Dex by summoning his Mount Vault in the front yard. By now, Hugh had enough experience with using his Vault he thought the sight of the door rising up out of the ground wouldn't be able to surprise him.

This door shocked him speechless.

The Mount Vault's door was as wide as the Housing Vault's had been, but this one didn't stop rising when Hugh expected. It kept cranking itself higher and higher until the top of the door towered five stories over their heads.

"Holy shit," Hugh said when the Kraken arms holding the door shut finally appeared and the door gave a final booming clank.

"What background skin did you use for your Mount Vault?" Dex asked, taking a few steps back to get a better view of the entire door.

Hugh gasped as he realized what laid inside the Vault and felt his hands tremble around his Book in anticipation. "Kira Kira City. It's the largest skin GameNet has available. It has ten showrooms, ten stables, and twenty rooftop parking platforms."

"How much of it have you filled?"

"All of it. I have—" He stopped himself, realizing it was pointless to try to name everything. Legendary mounts were a coveted item in any game and he prided himself on having the best of the best. "You can see for yourself."

Leaving his Book to hover outside, Hugh walked up to the door and pried off the Kraken arms in the correct sequence. The doors slid open as soon as it was unlocked, revealing the same sight Hugh would have seen using the GameNet App. Kira Kira City—the holy land of modern theft games.

Despite the size of the Vault door, the buildings inside were barely two or three stories tall. They didn't actually need to be any bigger, since what made Kira Kira City iconic was its personality. Crafted to imitate the variety and splendor of Las Vegas, every building had been claimed by a signature in-game brand like Optipopple Soda, Freeble's Kibble, and Exi-Ex Radio. Not all of the brands came from the same game, which is one of the things that made Kira Kira City a holy land. Much like GameNet, it crossed the boundaries between games and brought everything together in a new pattern of reality.

What made the entire Vault skin so fun was Hugh had been allowed to personalize everything, picking out which signs to use and customizing the attached marquees to tell him what he had inside the building. Most of them said simple things like 'Speed', 'Offroad', 'Tactical', and 'Boats', but there were a few with descriptions like 'Pegasus Farm', 'Family Road Trips', and 'Demon Menagerie'.

The signs flashed steadily in the Vault's dark interior, lighting up the strip of blacktop street stretching out from the Vault door. On the road itself, he'd been allowed to park one vehicle in front of each building. These were mounts he'd chosen to showcase the breadth and quality of his collection.