Chapter 65: Choosing a Mount

Parked in front of the first four buildings to his left were his absolute favorite vehicle mounts—a high tech hoverbike, a celestial wind skimmer, a Lrancisian war chariot, and a tricked out hoverboard. To the right, in front of his first four stables, rested his four favorite creature mounts—a winged black mare, a floppy-ear nine-tailed skunk, a bongo hippocampus, and a wereos. The wereos was something like a werewolf, if someone took the steroid-infused wolf base and crossed with a hyena, dyed the resulting stripes on his hide funky blue, then implanted it with the horns of a silver stag. The creature lumbered around like a bear or a troll, but could be counted on to defend any rider on its back and its hit-points were the highest out of all the land mounts he owned—including armored tanks.

However, it was the winged black mare—a Nightmare—who finally made Hugh hesitantly enter the Vault. On the surface, the beast didn't appear very impressive. Sure, it was a black horse with black feathered pegasus wings. Hugh couldn't count the number of people he met who'd discarded the mount in favor of more grandiose or physically intimidating creatures. However, this particular beast had a skill only long-time riders were given after using the mount for over four hundred hours, which he'd done by default back in the days when the Nightmare was one of the only mounts he had available to transfer between games.

If a person was marked AFK—away from keyboard—within a game, the winged nightmare made them intangible. Hugh had only discovered it by accident when he'd tried playing a fantasy RPG while sick with the flu. He'd blacked out at some point after throwing up and, when he woke, he discovered he'd been attacked multiple times to no avail—no one could hit him. Several people in chat had even accused him of hacking because they couldn't figure out what he'd done, but the system log told him everything he needed to know. He'd 'fallen asleep' in-game by not moving for so long and his Winged Nightmare had carried his character into the astral plane of dreams.

While they were in the land of dreams, the winged nightmare was the most incredible mount of them all. She grew three times larger, her black hide transformed to fluid ink with artistic movements no other mounts could imitate, and her entire docile demeanor was overwritten by a snarling hellcat who emitted a terrifying aura. NPC enemies automatically fled when she came near. Sometimes, she even scared NPC characters in towns, triggering their cower emotes.

Hugh had learned to actively use her skill by using system commands to mark himself AFK. He had no idea how he'd achieve a similar system reaction within Thrive, but he knew he couldn't possibly leave her in the Vault. She was meant to be with him, regardless of what game he played.

The Nightmare didn't react to their presence as they cautiously closed the distance to her. She stood tall and proud where he'd left her parked, her neck arched beautifully and her feathered raven wings folded against her sides. Her tail swished at her back and she occasionally tossed her head, but she didn't prance in place or shy away as they grew closer.

"Careful, Hugh," Dex warned when he started to reach out to touch her forehead. "She's not wearing a saddle."

Hugh pulled his hand back. "What does that mean?"

"I don't think she's considered a mount yet," he replied. "At least, not here in Thrive. She's just a species asset. She's not reacting to you because we're still in your Vault, but that might change if you touch her without taming her first. I advise you grab your Book and get the Companion Stone from the Pet page. You should touch her with it first, then see about taming her as a mount."

Hugh knew better than to ignore Dex's advice when it came to Thrive's systems. He darted out of the Vault to grab his Book and flipped to the requisite page as he walked back. The Companion stone, when he touched the icon to summon the tool, appeared as a hexagonal chunk of crystal with a pointed tip.

He eyed the tip warily as he turned it over in his hand. "I hope they're not expecting me to stab her with this."

"No," Dex said gently. "Just touch it to her skin and give her a name."

He carefully touched the tip to the mare's flesh and said the name he'd used since he got her, "Shara."

Shara reared up and her wings snapped open as she reacted to whatever the stone did. Hugh took several steps back, retreating to a safer distance. As her forelegs dropped down on the street and her wings folded against her sides again, the mare neighed. The sound reached Hugh's ears with a ghostly distortion, but it didn't sound unhappy. Hugh set the Companion Stone on his Book, leaving them both hovering out of the way, and held out his hands to her.

"Shara," he called. This time, her head immediately turned to him and she danced excitedly in place when she saw him. Hugh laughed, his eyes stinging with tears as she actually walked up to him and butted her forehead against his palm, demanded to be petted. Then she took another step forward and put her head over Hugh's shoulder. Hugh found himself with a face full of black mane, but he laughed again when he realized she was trying to hug him. He wrapped his arms around her neck as far as they'd go and ran his hands across her smooth black hide.

"I can't believe I can touch her like this," he said as he breathed in her unique musk. He couldn't put his finger on it exactly, but it reminded him of Nag Champa incense and copper.

He spent some time simply petting her and running his fingers through her mane. Dex joined him after a minute. In a soft voice, he introducing himself to the Nightmare, then cautiously ran his hand down her back. The wonder in his eyes when she allowed his touch made Hugh's smile widen until his cheeks hurt.

Taming her turned out to be easy, possibly because they were still in the Vault. She didn't fight when he summoned the taming lasso and carefully put it on her like a necklace. He tightened it just enough so the entire rope laid across her hide and turned gold, then he loosened it again and removed it.

In his Book, her name appeared twice—once as a Pet Summon and once as a Mount Summon. "Now what?" Hugh asked.

"Now we put her in your yard and let her roam around," Dex replied with a grin. "We'll have to figure out what she eats and figure out some way to provide for her when you're not home. You'll also need to equip her with a saddle for when you summon her as a mount. And you'll need to learn how to ride if you don't know how. I have the Equestrian skill available now, too, so make sure to upgrade me with it and I'll be able to teach you."

"Crap," Hugh grunted. "I didn't really think this through. What if she eats some kind of rare plant I don't have?"

"Scan her and find out."

Once more following Dex's advice, Hugh scanned her and the resulting tool-tip gave him all the information he needed to know to take care of her. Thankfully, she had a basic vegetarian diet, so he'd just need to plant a fast-growing garden for her and have his Moto-gardener drop off a daily harvest into a feed bin she could access. She could get water from the Prism Fountain.

"I'll have to find a contractor to build a stable in the backyard," Hugh said in thought. "I don't remember seeing the option for one in the system build menu and I don't have any in my Vault."

"It doesn't need to be done immediately," Dex replied. "The weather in the Housing area won't be a danger to her and I'm sure we can pay Kanini for some raw fruits and vegetables to get her through the next few days. The Farmer's Market might even sell bags of grain and hay."

"In that case, let's show Shara her new home. How does that sound, old girl?"

He grinned as Shara let out a ghostly wicker and followed him through the Vault door like she understood his words, which was entirely possible. Actually, it was more than possible, it was likely. Thrive only had one Pet system instead of two separate systems for cosmetic pets and fighting pets. Fighting pets in games typically understood basic commands so they could be trained to fight alongside their owner. In Thrive, he was willing to bet the same thing was possible.

Hugh spent some time walking around the yard with the Nightmare following him, doing his best to set some ground rules as he gave her the tour. "No eating the potted plants. Stay in the fence, but don't go in the house. Okay? We'll get you a house of your own and we'll go riding on the beach as soon I lean how. You can drink all you want from the fountain, but be nice to the water sprites swimming there and try not to terrorize the peacock. I'll figure out something for food soon."

"There's few more things you should know about the pet system," Dex said as Shara lost interest and wandered away. "She might look like this right now, but she'll be a lot smaller if you summon her as a pet. We're talking pint-sized so she can follow you indoors. The second thing is she'll return here on your plot when you dismiss her since this is your designated home. The third thing is the Switch command works with pets. You can have three with you at any time, but only one can be active. If you Switch to one, it'll make them mount-sized and able to fight. If you want them all to be inactive, you can say 'Switch Zero' to make them all pet size. Finally, the last thing is Nexus has leash laws, so we'll need one of those unless you want to be fined."

"Leashes?" Hugh asked, raising an eyebrow at the concept. "Aren't pets tamed, though? Do they actually need one?"

"Human mentality," Dex replied with a shrug. "The average human feels safer seeing an animal controlled by a leash rather than walking around freely. Coincidentally, you don't need a leash for a mount."

"Speaking of mounts, I can't really ride Shara through Nexus. Not only would she attract too much attention right now, but I have to learn how to ride first. We should get a couple of the other vehicles while I have the Vault open."