Chapter 66: Choosing a Mount Part Two

It took nearly an hour for Hugh to make his initial selections. He spent some time walking through a few of the buildings in search of something mundane, but games weren't particularly known for crafting basic cars and trucks. The items in his Vault were called Legendaries for a reason.

Since he couldn't find anything boring, he stuck with his favorites. He lassoed his hoverbike and hoverboard to add them as Mount summons in his Book, then carefully drove them out of the Vault. The hoverbike wasn't hard to maneuver—the steering bar was simple and the gas pedal was set up like a car's under his right foot. He'd never actually owned a car, but he had his license and knew how to drive. It was one of the few things his dad had done for him in his teen years.

The hoverboard was much trickier. He sucked at skateboarding and all the hoverboard's controls seemed to rely on weight shifting. He ended up leaving it to Dex, who was able to expertly maneuver the vehicle over to the driveway without a problem.

"That one can be yours," Hugh said as he bound it to one of the Navigator's shortcuts. "I'll use the bike."

They also grabbed the wind skimmer—a personal airship with an ornate rowboat base and a decorative angel-inspired sail—and a force-field bubble generator out of one of the buildings. He thought both would be useful for exploring.

He could see his bigger airships and science fiction spacecraft waiting up on the rooftops around him, but he simply didn't have anywhere to put them. Dropping them all off on his world was out of the question, since not only would the NPCs probably trash them without knowing what they were, but visiting players would steal them. The same went for all the animals he had stabled within his Vault. Perhaps if he owned his own instance, he'd feel more comfortable setting everything out, but that would have to wait a few years—if ever.

"If I need something, we'll pull them out on a case-by-case basis," Hugh said. "But I think we're done here for now."

"You aren't going to tame any more animals?" Dex asked in surprise.

Hugh shook his head and headed out of the Vault with the Navigator by his side. "They don't seem to mind being in here and living creatures are a lot harder to manage than vehicles. Shara is enough for now. We can come back for another pet once we get used to the one we have. And, anyway, we don't have any time left if we're going to get breakfast before we go meet the Director."

"One question before we go. Are you actually wearing that to go meet Frankie's boss?"

Hugh glanced down at himself and winced at his mismatched gear. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew the Director would take one look at him and mentally dismiss him as riffraff. It didn't matter if the gear was Legendary or the Director had already seen him wearing it. Appearances were important. His mom had certainly said so often enough and he'd known she had a point, even if he hated it.

"Costume Vault?" Hugh asked.

"Costume Vault," Dex agreed.

The Costume Vault had the smallest door of them all, being one of the Vaults Hugh cared the least about. The interior was merely a walk-in closet with a few mannequins dressed up in fanciful clothes and a few more outfits on hanger displays. Everything else was tucked away inside dressers, folded on shelves, or hung in wardrobes.

Hugh didn't want to waste time going through everything, nor did he intend to waste a second Vault use on this particular section in the future. With that in mind, he picked out the luxury three piece suits he wanted for himself and Dex, then pulled out his inventory wand and stored everything down to the last wristwatch in his Book's main inventory. He heard his Book hit the ground outside as the weight of all the clothes settled inside it, but he easily remedied the problem by walking to his bedroom and summoning the entire inventory inside his closet.

"We'll sort through it later," Hugh promised himself as he shut the door on the resulting mess. Taking a second trip to the Vault, Hugh handed Dex a black shirt and trousers with a burgundy silk jacket. He took a similar suit for himself, although his jacket was a rich navy blue.

"Where are these from?" Dex asked as they picked up matching pairs of black dress shoes.

"I'm not sure," Hugh admitted. "Loads of games put out fashionable clothes so players can run their own events. These could be from anywhere from Pleiades Saga to Fracture Wars, which is why I picked them. They don't look like costumes at all. I just hope they fit."

"They will," Dex promised. "One of the perks of this being a game means all clothing will automatically adjust to fit. It's the reason I was able to wear your clothes that first day, even though your dimensions are different."

Hugh raised his eyebrow at the example, but didn't comment. If he'd thought about it, he should have already noticed how all his gear fit his body without needing to be altered.

He dismissed the Vault, stuck his Book under his arm, and carried his new suit into his bedroom where he could changed. He didn't actually take off all the gear he wore, but tried out a new command using what he'd learned from Dex. After all, if the command existed for Pets, it should exist for other stuff, too.

"Tech Switch Zero," he said. Everything equipped on his Tech page instantly disappeared from his body. When he checked his Book, it was all still waiting on him to summon it back.

Happy over not losing access to his gear for the sake of wearing a Tech-less costume, Hugh pulled on the suit and the dress shoes, then put his Book to sleep and tucked it in his jacket pocket. He felt like he was missing something and it took him several long seconds to realize he didn't have a wallet, keys, or cell phone to worry about.

Dex was already dressed and waiting for him in the living area. The Navigator looked completely different in a suit. He no longer had the quasi street thug facade his gear had given. It'd been replaced with a much more mature countenance, one that made Hugh stop and stare at the way the lines of the suit curved over his shoulders and hugged Dex's sides.

"You look good," Hugh complimented gruffly, his throat tightening with lust. "Are you going to be able to ride your hoverboard in that?"

Dex gave him a lopsided grin and shrugged. "I guess we'll see. Your hoverbike doesn't have a bitch seat."

"Let's go." The front door auto-locked behind him, but Hugh had to check the windows to make sure they were locked, as well. Dex stopped him before he could get past the first one.

"We're off!" he called out at the building. Hugh heard it as every window and door in the house sealed itself shut. When Hugh raised his eyebrow at his Navigator, he shrugged. "It also shuts off the stove."

Hugh huffed out a laugh and mounted his new bike. Its engines quietly whirred to life the moment he touched it, sensing its owner, and gently lifted off the ground to hover a foot above it. He drove it in a shallow circle rather than attempt to put it in reverse, and called out to Shara as he drove down the driveway. "Be good, girl. We'll be back in a few hours."

With Dex easily following behind him, Hugh aimed his bike at the tunnel to Nexus, hit the gas, and prayed he wasn't making a huge mistake in using the mount.