Guide
Mounts and Exploration Guide: Riding, Gliding and Fast Travel
How to unlock riding and gliding, the fastest mounts, co-riding, compass mode and the utility Jinies that trivialize travel.
Riding is a field skill attached to a Jini, not a separate vehicle. That one rule explains most mount advice: every mount takes a team slot, the fastest option is not always the one your route needs, and a Jini can carry you across a zone while refusing to fight in it. Build for terrain first and speed second.
How riding and gliding unlock
There is no single account-wide mount level. Each Jini carries its own traversal skill, and the skill opens when that Jini is in your party and eligible to ride. Your first flyer is a story gift, Winter Feather Bird; Duckiji arrives as your first water option, and Sonic Hound is rideable at level 26 (CN build, Season 3; single source). Do not generalise that number to every mount, and do not assume the global build keeps it.
Two early habits matter more than any tier list. First, your first mounts are quest rewards, not purchases, so do not save currency for a mount you will be handed. Second, obedience and riding are separate: an over-levelled catch that ignores battle orders can still carry you, which makes a level 40 spawn on a level 20 account a travel upgrade rather than a wasted ball (CN build, Season 3). The beginner guide covers that split.
Three ways to fly and the ground options
Flight is not one ability. CN posts separate it into hanging glide, ridden flight and grapple, and each solves a different problem. Ground and water mounts sit outside that list, but they follow the same logic: pick the movement type that matches the next stretch of map.
| Style | Example | Best at | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hanging glide | Winter Feather Bird | Fast straight-line crossing, early access | Almost no hover, drops quickly, hard to land precisely |
| Ridden flight | Mist Bird, griffin types | Stable flight, slow descent, some hover | Slower, and usually the two-seat option |
| Grapple | Gentleman Chicken | Height and distance in bursts, cliff shortcuts | Rare or expensive to obtain |
| Land dash | Sonic Hound | Fast flat-ground travel, cheap to build | Stops at cliffs and water |
| Water | Duckiji | Crossing rivers and lakes early | Slow on land |
Read a route and name its obstacle before you mount up. A gathering lap across grassland wants speed; a cliff run wants a grapple or a flyer with hover; a river crossing wants Duckiji. Swapping one Jini before the run is cheaper than swimming halfway and turning back.
Co-riding is the real multiplier
Co-ride lets a second player ride the same Jini. It is not a cosmetic: the passenger gathers alongside you, materials are shared, and the pair can farm two worlds in one session. That is why a co-ride mount is worth more than a slightly faster solo flyer once you have a regular partner.
The standard setup is one land co-ride and one air co-ride between the two of you, with the rest of both teams filled by Love Share. One CN post describes ten Love Share stacks turning a single flower node into as many as 40 materials (CN build, Season 3; single source). Whether that cap holds in the global build is unverified, but the direction is not: the talent stack, not the mount, is what pays.
Keep one detection Jini in the pair while you learn a new zone. A party of pure farmers is fast but blind, and a missed chest costs more than the extra yield. The world map guide lists the loops worth running with this setup.
The talents worth keeping
Mount quality is often decided by the talent, not the species. Do not release a Jini just because its talent grade is Average; check the talent line first.
| Talent | What it does | Why keep it |
|---|---|---|
| Co-ride | Lets a second player ride | Doubles gathering and opens two-world farming |
| Love Share | Extra resource yield, stacks across the party | The core of every farming route |
| Nimble | Wider automatic gathering radius | Pairs with Love Share while mounted |
| Fleet | Faster movement while riding | Turns a slow mount into a usable one |
| Mercy | Lethal damage leaves a wild Jini at 1 HP | Capture without weakening it first |
| Homebody | Higher resource output | Passive value even when it never travels |
Stamina, heat and fall damage
- Tap, do not hold. Flight is a tapped ability. Holding the button drains stamina and climbs poorly; tapping, releasing and tapping again gets more height per bar (CN build, Season 3; single source). No source publishes stamina values, so judge by the bar, not by a stopwatch.
- Speed differences are real but small. A fast land mount beats a slow flyer on flat ground, while a flyer beats everything across a canyon. Do not pay for a marginal speed upgrade when your route is mostly vertical.
- Fire-type mounts heat you. Ride one too long, or stand too close, and your HP bar turns red; stay longer and you lose HP (single source, English fan guide). Dismount before a long conversation or a boss attempt.
- Fall damage is a mount stat. Some Jinies soften falls, and Gentleman Chicken is documented as ignoring fall damage entirely (CN build, Season 3; single source). For cliff routes, that is worth more than raw speed.
- Water is a hard stop for some. Several fast land mounts are described as helpless in deep water. Cross on Duckiji or a water-capable mount, then switch back on the far bank.
Compass mode, Jini vision and other navigation
The minimap tracker is your primary route tool: follow the marker under the minimap instead of free-roaming, and the story will reveal most anchors for you. Jini vision is the second tool. It highlights chests and special points, and any Jini can be thrown at an observation point to claim it, so a single detection slot opens a lot of map.
Compass mode is the one item here we cannot source. CN posts describe the minimap tracker and Jini vision, but not a separate compass toggle, so if the global build ships one, read its tooltip rather than assuming it matches the map. On PC, remember that Ctrl toggles walk mode; if your character suddenly crawls, that is usually the cause (CN build, Season 3; single source).
Build order
- Winter Feather Bird — free flight, no investment. Use it and move on.
- Duckiji — story water travel; you will need it for coastal loops.
- Sonic Hound — the level 26 land mount, and the first speed upgrade worth building (CN build, Season 3; single source).
- Gentleman Chicken — cliffs, grapples and no fall damage; the best utility pick before flight upgrades.
- Mist Bird — the flight upgrade from Winter Feather Bird around level 30 (CN build, Season 3; single source).
- A co-ride pair — once you farm regularly, this beats any single faster mount.
Do not spend Magic Dust or keys on a throwaway flyer. Mounts need levels and a field skill, not stars, and the resources you save belong on the Jini that fights. If you are still choosing your first fighter, the Jini Dex guide covers the early carries.