Sam spared a glance for the details of the equipment.

Cloak of the Stratta Hawk (L) Level 99: A powerful cloak created from the body of an adult Statta Hawk. Per the hunting habits of the Stratta Hawk, the feathers glow golden in the day and silver at night to disguise themselves. Worked by a master craftsman into the soft pelt of a Bloom Stag, the final result is a comfortable garment that possesses immense defensive potential. Attackers will often find they inflict as much damage on themselves as upon the wearer when dealing with the feathers’ sharp edges. Health +2000, Perception and Reaction +100.

Decisive Strike VI. Duality of Light VI. Vestments of a Predator VII.

Sam didn’t bother to look at the details of the attributes. He just felt disappointment in himself as he made minute adjustments to the cloak so it would hang more naturally across the wooden stand and then turned to return home for dinner. He had believed he was close to breaking through the VII barrier, but it seemed he still came up a little short.

What exactly was he missing…?

Due to the Health bonus alone, Sam knew that many people would salivate at the prospect of obtaining his equipment. Combining that with the flashy gold and silver coloration during the day and at night respectively, the bonus Stats, and the Attributes that seemed to lean toward ambush meant that Sam would definitely make a killing on this product.

Which was a cold comfort compared to his failure to accomplish the goal he had set out for himself. As he walked alone through the shadowy paths from his workstation in the mountains, he reflected on his process.

He had been ecstatic for the chance to work with the materials of the Stratta Hawk, hoping that these ingredients would be the key to breaking past this soft limit. And it was only a recently discovered monster; it currently was the only being without a Class to be known to have seriously injured a Chimera.

The Stratta Hawk only lived for a year or two, but they were particular creatures. When they were extremely young, they rode waves of warm air upward into the atmosphere, until they settled into the stratosphere. There they would glide and fast, growing larger and heavier, until they had locked onto their chosen prey. Then they would stalk their target for up to a year, learning their habits.

The bird’s feathers had evolved to glow so that the Stratta Hawk could fly directly between its target and either the sun or moon, making it almost impossible to spot a Stratta Hawk when it wasn’t attempting to disguise itself with a waning moon. This coloration, combined with the height at which the hawks were flying, meant that they were impossible to spot.

There just weren’t very many Skills that had such a far effective range.

The Stratta Hawks were instinctual creatures, but they were also smart. Because of their life cycles, they needed to select extremely powerful and energy-dense prey. The more powerful their prey, the more the hawks would bide their time, allowing their bodies to continue growing heavier.

Because when they finally decided to strike, they wouldn’t have a second chance; the adult Stratta Hawks possessed bodies that were too heavy to be carried to the heavens by the air currents. They could only dive.

If they failed to kill their target, as what happened when the Stratta Hawk had targeted the Chimera, they were somewhat helpless and ungainly on the ground. Their legs were extremely powerful, but their stay in the sky had made wide wings almost too heavy for them to spread out.

But if they succeeded in their endeavor and killed their prey, they wouldn’t eat themselves. Instead, a unique biological trait would activate; the Stratta Hawk didn’t require a mate to lay eggs. Depending on how large the prey was, they could produce several offspring on command. After their children were born, the adult would serve them the rich and powerful flesh of their target. Then the young are taken to an area for them to ascend to the sky, so the life cycle could continue.

Watching their children rise up into the sky, the adult Stratta Hawk would starve and die satisfied. Their dedication to their offspring was honestly inspiring.

“Perhaps I missed a part of their habits that I could have worked into the creation…?” Sam muttered to himself. “I don’t know what the hawks do while they are waiting in the sky… and how can they continue growing after just that first meal…? Damn-”

Splash!

Sam paused, lifting his head to look at the quaking waves spreading across the small lake below him. He was currently standing on a bluff to the East of the lake, whereas the family home was on a similar bluff on the North of the lake. Sam watched as a figure skurried out of the lake and began hurrying up the slope below him.

When the small figure neared, Sam raised his hand. “Explain.”

Sam’s son Sunan, currently eight years old, executed a sharp salute as he skidding to a stop. “Training.”

Then Sunan lowered his hand hurried past to round the bluff. He accelerated as he reached the top, launching himself off the peak and flying through the air in a flurry of limbs. With the speed he had built up, the boy flew well. The height of the bluff meant that he successfully flew far enough horizontally to crash into the middle of the lake.

SPLASH!

A pillar of water exploded into the air. Some of Sam’s sourness began to fade and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Heh. If I was a kid in a body with such high mass to force ratios, I probably couldn’t resist jumping off tall things too…

Like clockwork, the small, soaked figure of Sunan hopped out of the lake and hurried up the bluff to do it again. Sam raised his hand again when his son passed. “Training to be what?”

“A horse. Like Hank Howard has. Or like Alana’s dragon. Or Kayle’s Paolo.” Sunan said proudly. Then he made to hurry past again, but Sam snagged his son’s shoulder.

His mouth continued to spasm. “You… want to be a mount?”

Sunan had short hair and dark eyes he had inherited from Regina. He nodded seriously to Sam’s question. “Everyone wants to be the Rider. But won’t that mean there are more Riders than Mounts? Mom says I should think about how my skills make me employeeble. I gotta train now while no one else realizes how cool being a Mount is.”

“Employable,” Sam corrected absently. Then he picked his son up around his waist and carried him back toward the house. “And I think your mother also says you need to eat dinner regularly.”

“Mom says we need to eat dinner regularly.” Sunan countered from Sam’s armpit.

Sam rolled his eyes and carried his son back to the house. When they walked into the house and wiped their shoes on the carpet, Regina appeared in the entrance to the kitchen and looked them up and down. She saw how soaked Sunan was and how Sam was dusty and covered in dried sweat. She didn’t say anything, just looked at them.

Sam cleared his throat awkwardly. “Ahem. I was hoping that we could push back dinner a little more so Sunan and I could wash up…”

“Well, since you requested it,” Regina clicked her tongue and turned away. Under his arm, Sunan giggled and began to squirm.

Sam let the boy down and his son bounded quickly up the stairs to the bathroom. Sam reached up again to rub his sore neck and went to the downstairs bathroom He turned on the shower and quickly rinsed himself off. Then he went into his bedroom and obtained a clean cotton shirt and jeans.

Sam was somewhat surprised when he returned to the kitchen and found that Sunan was already there, staring greedily at the plum pork and sweet potatoes on his plate. Sensing Sam’s quirked eyebrow, Sunan spoke in his trademark serious tone. “A Mount must be very quick in all things.”

After rubbing his son’s head affectionately, Sam sat down at the table and dinner began. Regina regarded the two men coolly at the beginning of the meal, but as Sam prodded their son to explain his newfound training regimen, Regina soon had to bring a hand up to her mouth to hide a smile.

When the meal was finished, Sam picked up the plates and carried them to the sink to wash them. Regina moved to help and spoke over her shoulder. “Sunan, make sure you pack up clothes tonight. We are heading to Kharon tomorrow for the auction.”

Their son shook his head. “I can’t make it. It will interfere in my training.”

The two parents exchanged a look. Sam shook his head and returned to scrubbing plates. “Do you remember Kharon? It’s called the Wandering City. In a way… Kharon might be the greatest Mount in the world.”

Sunan considered this. “...okay I’ll come. But we cannot play around too much, okay?”

“I promise,” Sam replied solemnly. Regina snorted.

Early the next morning, the trio gathered up and bundled themselves into one of Sam’s homemade hovercrafts. When the Engraving’s activated, the sleek, matte-black machine lifted off the ground and then blasted through the air. Secondary runes deployed, projecting a barrier in front of them that dealt with the wind resistance. In the next instant, the vehicle accelerated forward, piercing through the sound barrier and shooting off into the distance.

For this auction, Kharon had settled itself South of the original Zones, nearer to the equator than any established territory. With Sam’s powerful vehicle, they only spent about four hours shooting through the sky before they approached Kharon’s resting place.

Already, Kharon had unfolded its mechanical fair and created a festival-like atmosphere on the ground near where the city settled. Portable food stalls and stages were in abundance. But Sam’s eyes swept through the broader surroundings. Small portable dwellings dotted to the tops of the surrounding hills, evidence that the rich and affluent of the various Zones and Orders had already arrived and staked their claim on the premium areas.

Sam didn’t bother with bringing a portable residence; the family would be staying in Kharon proper, as Tatiana’s guest. So he brought his vehicle down in the massive sprawl of other hover vehicles that had emerged to the west of Kharon, squeezing between a flying speedboat and what looked like a heavily armored tank.

“Look at all of these mounts!” Sunan was practically bouncing as he hopped down out of the vehicle and examined the surroundings.

Regina clicked her tongue and dragged the boy after them as they wound their way out of the impromptu parking lot and to the base of Kharon. There, Sam intended to lead his family directly up into Kharon but he paused slightly when he saw a group of protestors standing to the side of one of the largest ramps up into Kharon.

The angry group held up signs that said quite a few innocuous phrases, but the most common one was “Whole and Human”.

“Who are those people?” Sunan asked.

Sam pressed his lips together. Regina patted Sunan’s back. “No one worth mentioning, honey.”