Before leaving town to continue our hunt, a thought jolted through my mind. “Oh crap, I nearly forgot,” I said in exasperation. “I’m a tier two hunter now!”

“Yeah… Congrats?” Stella said, clearly not catching on.

“We need to swing over to Afrazz’s shop,” I blurted, my words rapidly firing from my mouth. “He said that he has tier-two spells and equipment but wouldn’t be able to show them to me since I wasn’t ready for them!”

My words finally reached Stella’s lack of enthusiasm at my original statement. From one moment to the next, she was bouncing eagerly in the air. Her words matched the frantic pace mine had been seconds before, “Why didn’t you say something earlier? Oh man, those spells are going to be so awesome. Just wait until you get more 'lesser' version spells. They put minor spells to shame! I mean, look at how powerful your lesser boil blood is to any other spell you got!”

The sun was slowly reaching the edge of the horizon, which in retrospect, should have been a clue as to what we would find after heading to the merchant’s quarter. A short while later when we reached Afrazz’s shop, our spirits were dashed when we found his door firmly locked. “Ah, crap,” I uttered.

With little recourse, we were forced to turn back to the road dejected and with far less spunk in our steps. Before leaving the area entirely, we made a few inquiries of other merchants to find that Afrazz likely wouldn’t be returning for at least a day or two. Apparently, he was known to go out into the wilderness to hunt monsters. to nearby shops, we discovered the man likely wouldn’t be returning for a day or two. Sadly, it was time we wouldn’t be able to spare, so to the road out of town we returned. Stella tried to cheer me up and within minutes, with Nemmil fading in the distance behind us, a smile had returned to my lips. One day we would be back, and of that, I had no doubt.

One other thing that worked to take my mind off of getting stronger necromancer spells, was when Stella reminded me about the loot we had acquired from our battle with Adom. “Man, I was so caught up with getting Lailah home, and not to mention my advancement, I nearly forgot.” Stopping for a moment on the road, light beginning to fade around us, I rubbed my hands together eagerly.

“We’ll need to camp soon,” Stella said. “We have maybe an hour of light left.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I replied distractedly. “Hmm, some of this is alright, but I had been expecting something a bit stronger.”

Most of the gear we had taken from the Hunter had been only slightly enchanted. Adom’s focus, understandably so considering his melee-focused fighting style, was built around increasing his strength, dexterity, and constitution. In the end, I only replaced my basic leather pants with a piece of his gear. Though, I was pleased to don a thickly braided belt which seemed to be made of a type of strong carbon-fiber material. I doubted even my powerfully enchanted axe could cut the material.

The rest of the gear went to Ripley as she was more melee-focused between the two of us anyway. Her strength, dexterity, and constitution went up another three to four points each. Nothing mind-blowing, but every bit helped. Everything else we couldn’t use was left in my bag of holding including, sadly, Adom’s powerful mace. Unfortunately, the weapon could only be wielded by a monk.

{Savage Mace of Devastation}. A weapon designed for the simple pleasure of delivering excruciating pain and horrible destruction. This mace, when wielded by an appropriate class, has increased bludgeoning damage, and causes enhanced pain experienced to living beings. Quality: Superb. Rarity: Rare. Type: Bludgeon, One-handed. Slot: Primary. Durability: 918/1,000. Speed: Slow. Effect(s): Adds 10 to 15 damage per attack. Melee attacks and skills with this weapon cause additional pain to be inflicted on any target struck. Secondary Effect(s): 2.5% chance to stun the target for 0.5 seconds. Note – This effect does not function against foes that are incapable of feeling physical pain. Requirements for magical effects: Tier 1 Monk Class.

“That may drop its re-sale value,” Stella commented on the monk class requirement as I shoved the weapon back into my inventory. “Still, it should fetch at least a few gold coins if we can find a merchant willing to pick it up.”

Stella grimaced as she continued to consider the dreadful weapon, “That must have been quite painful when he hit you with that weapon. We’re lucky that the stun effect never took effect. Damn…”

Stella’s comment gave me pause. Adom had pounded the very weapon mercilessly against my body in our battle. Yet, the weapon’s special effect never triggered. Had it done so, the outcome may have been altogether different. “I bet the gnoll brew I drank rendered me immune to the stun. It does say it makes its user immune to mind-altering effects and, unless I miss my guess, being stunned from intense pain fits that definition.”

“Yeah,” Stella replied after pondering my comment for a moment. “I think you’re right. Now, though, you’ll never need to drink that disgusting stuff again considering your clear-headed ability.”

Nodding along with each of Stella’s words, I pulled out the final piece of gear we acquired from Adom. In my hand, I gently inspected a delicate silver chain necklace. The pendant was oval-shaped and reminded me of a pearl. As my fingers caressed the opaque gemstone, a System window popped up in my vision. I was so caught off guard, that I nearly stumbled backward.

“What the?!” I said even as my eyes tried to register what was in front of me. It took a few panicked seconds for understanding to catch up with me. “Wait, this is an inventory screen.”

It was similar to my bag of holding inventory, but the contents were all different. Contained within this seemingly ordinary item was row upon row of odds and ends. Nothing inside appeared magical at first glance, but I was happy nonetheless with the traveling goods held within. “So, this is where Adom stored all of his normal gear.”

{Adept’s Necklace of Holding}. Rarity: Rare. Slot: Neck. Durability: 832/1000. Properties(s): The magically attuned necklace and attached locket appear to be made of regular silver. However, after touching the gemstone, an extradimensional inventory space becomes available which allows the owner to store items. The bearer of the necklace will be able to transfer items inside and out seamlessly, but only items that could easily fit within a standard backpack. The locket can hold up to 50 pounds, not exceeding a volume of 5 cubic feet. The necklace weighs .5 pounds, regardless of its contents.

Inside was an array of mundane items you would expect to see with a traveler; rations, waterskins, camping equipment, and the like. Testing it out, I found it worked exactly like my own bag of holding; I was able to store and retrieve items directly into my hand with a thought. After a quick discussion with Stella, I transferred all of our mundane items from my bag of holding into the necklace.

Separating those items seemed a good idea, as was explained by Stella. “That way if you needed to find something quick, like a healing potion, for example, you’ll have an easier time locating it among the list of items held in your bag of holding.

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I was also pleasantly surprised, finding I was not required to have the necklace equipped, though I chose to do so for the time being since I didn’t have already equipped. Should I find something better, the necklaces inventory window could still be pulled up with a thought. Though, Stella warned me against storing the necklace inside my bag of holding. Something about putting an extra-dimensional space within another would result in disastrous consequences. I was familiar with such warnings, of course, though my knowledge was from books from Earth where no actual such dimensional space existed in anything other than works of fiction. Still, I agreed to heed her warning since she was the expert after all.

Setting up the camp to bed down for the evening went quickly. The handy tent we had acquired from Adom served me well, protecting me from the chilled evening air. There was only a slight breeze on the wind, with the planet’s single moon hovering protectively in the sky above us. Combined with my dark vision, my sight reached far and wide. Before clasping the tent closed, Stella agreed to keep watch after I had learned she didn’t need even a wink of sleep. Apparently, it was a pretty typical occurrence for Hunters.

“Nothing’s going to sneak up on us,” Stella said, clearly seeing the tiredness glazing across my eyes as I shifted into my sleeping bag. “Plus, we have Ripley. Anything seeing those burning eyes would be wise to reconsider anything even hinting at hostile intent. Trust me, Xaz, we’ve got this. Rest easy. I’ll awaken you if anything happens. See you in the morning.”

With Stella’s warm smile brought me enough comfort and assurance, I was fast asleep in no time.

At the break of dawn, Stella did her best to nudge me awake, her small whiskers tickling the side of my face. Her insistency increased until finally, I propped myself up. “I’m up,” I said blearily, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Had I been able, I would have slept the entire morning away, but had asked Stella to ensure we were up at first light. Duke needed to rest just like anyone, Stella had assured me, so the sooner we broke camp the faster we would be in catching up with him.

“Anything happen overnight?” I asked as I stretched and craned my neck.

“Only a few passing animals,” Stella replied. “Nothing more dangerous than a mama possum carrying her litter.”

“Sounds cute,” I rolled up my sleeping bag, returned it to my necklace’s inventory, and then moved to break down the tent. “Thanks for keeping an eye out. Hopefully, it wasn’t too boring for you.”

“Not at all,” Stella said as she floated a few feet off the ground. She plopped her behind down as she watched me get us ready to move. “It can be quite relaxing.”

“Alright, everything’s stored,” I said. “Ready to keep moving?”

Stella nodded her ascent and we quickly found the road, my song of travel increasing our movement speed by nearly twenty-five percent. The road we followed was well worn and in spots, my tracking ability revealed what I took to be caravan treads, highlighted in blue, I judged whoever caused them had been a day, at most, before us. “Maybe a pair of wagons and double that in horses,” I muttered to myself as I gazed down at the tracks. Stella hovered over my shoulder, not adding anything to my comment. My skills were likely quite lacking in a real tracker, but it was easy enough for me to tell this much.

Clouds covered the sky, along with the rising sun to our east, bringing with it a slight wind that tickled our bodies and carried a hint of rain in the air. Our fast pace was enough to keep any chill from my skin as the miles passed beneath our feet. More than for wagon tracks, I did my best to keep a keen eye on the road, as much as the area around us, so as to not miss any hint of Duke’s passing. As an hour quickly passed, my skills found no other sign.

Ripley was taking long, slow strides to the side of me, her extra height allowing her to easily match my fluid pace. Her great sword, always easily in reach, sat affixed to her back. Her bark-colored cloak fluttered behind her as she moved. Stella had taken a turn to the rest of Ripley’s shoulder as hints of the sun began peeking through the clouds above. “It never ceases to amaze how pronounced one decision can make,” she commented as I stopped to investigate yet another scrape on the pebbled road.

“Oh, yeah?” I inquired distractedly. The track appeared to be nothing unusual, so I started the group moving again.

“Had you not ventured outside of your village yesterday morning, none of this would have happened. In all reality, you probably would have found your end at the hands of Duke, or those disgusting goblins he allowed in,” Stella said thoughtlessly. At the turn of my head, Stella coughed, realizing what she had said. “I’m only saying that had you not followed your true self’s adventurous spirit, you wouldn’t have found out who you really are. And I would probably still be wedged inside the hollow of the tree you found me in.”

Stella looked at the ground then, a sense of sadness visible in her posture, “And Stouter’s fate would never have been found. I wish he could be here with us. He would have liked you.”

“We’ll make him proud, Stell.”

Chirping birds passed over our heads, whether speaking to themselves or calling out to us, I couldn’t know. “I’ve been thinking about Duke. I was curious if there is anything more that you can tell me about him.”

“Other than he’s a wanna-be noble maniac, very little,” Stella replied contemptuously.

“Can’t you, you know, tap into the System and find out more information about him?”

“Both unfortunately and fortunately, no,” Stella said with a shake of her small head. At my confused expression, she continued. “It works both ways. Unfortunately for us, there is no access we Accelerators have to give information about other Hunters. It is fortunate for us, though, as it means Duke can’t do the same to us. Remember, he’s looking for something, and that something is most likely me. I doubt we would have trouble finding him if he suddenly decided to start hunting you.”

Stella continued in an ill-tempered voice, “Hopefully that only happens when we’re ready to take the beast down.” She spat on the ground before flying over to land on my shoulder. Her slight weight was comforting. “When he realizes what I am and that you are my Hunter, I doubt he would stop at anything to have me. Thankfully, he’s nowhere near this realization. When we catch up to him, we’ll be on the strong foot, and he’ll have to pay for his deeds.”

“Could you make any, I don’t know, inferences about him?” I asked hopefully. “His level… or maybe any advantage we hold over him?”

She shook her head, “If I could, trust me, I’d tell you. The only advantage we know for certain at this point is this; you have me and we’ll have the element of surprise. When it comes to other Accelerators, I can assure you that I’m a night and day difference to whatever imitation AI he’s acquired.”

“I hope we find him soon rather than later, but you’ve made it clear a number of times now. I need to grow quite a bit stronger before that happens. At the same time, we need every advantage we can get. Until that day comes, and with each new adventure, I grow stronger. I just hope it’s enough when we finally catch him.”

“It will be,” Stella replied confidently, her head tilted upwards.

Her prideful gesture brought an amused chuckle to my throat.

Not soon after, we both caught the scent of something in the wind at the same time. Stella came to her feet, her purchase firm on my shoulder. As she sniffed the air, I warily lowered my stance, enabling my Stealth. Something was burning. And, if my instincts were right, it was just over the rise a short distance ahead of us.

“There’s no smoke in the air,” I whispered out the side of my mouth. “Whatever had been on fire, most likely, is nearly put out. Otherwise, we would have seen a smoke trail curling into the air a long time ago.”

“Do you think it’s Duke?” Stella asked. “We can’t know for certain how long of a lead he has on us, but this seems too soon.” As we approached, the scent of burning wood and lacquer grew heavier. A quarter mile ahead of us, the road dipped low between a pair of small hillocks.

“Be ready,” I said as I silently recast minor shielding spell. My battle axe found itself gripped tightly in my hand. With careful and measured steps, we stopped off the road, angling ourselves to near the top of the rightmost knoll. No sound came from ahead, not even the chirps of birds or insects I had grown accustomed to. Only a foreboding sense of death greeted us at our stealthy advance. Ripley held her great sword in a reverse grip, the tip of the mighty weapon pointing behind us. Her presence, along with Stella’s, kept my anxiety at bay.

The thought of Duke, only several dozen paces away, tried to pull panic to the surface. Pausing a moment, I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths to calm my nerves. When I opened my eyes, I looked at Stella, seeing hardy resolution in those canid orbs. Nodding to her, we crouched even forward, the lip of the hill moments away. Come what may, we would do it together. I would have to hope we were enough.