When I caught up to her, she was wrist-deep in the bloody hole I’d put in the hog-goblin.

“Eew,” I said, stopping in my tracks. I looked around, cleared my throat. “So … you, uh, think there are more of those guys?"

She looked up at me. “I don’t think so,” she said, continuing to yank on the hog’s entrails.

“You, uh, searching for something in particular?” I said, cringing at the glurping hole.

She pulled her gore covered arms out and wiped her sweaty brow. I was surprised to see her knife still in her hand.

“Sorry, do you mind stepping to the side?” she said. “You’re in my light.”

I didn’t realize it until then but I'd been casting a long shadow over her, blocking what little light we had left.

“Oh, you need a light?” I said. I snapped my thumb candle on and squatted beside her.

She looked at me, my thumb, then went back to work.

“That’s a cute trick,” she said.

“I’ve got a few. You should see my balls.”

She paused to gawk at me.

“Spaceballs, I mean! It's a weapon. That's how I got this guy.”

She raised her eyebrow and shook her head, still cutting and tugging.

I cringed and looked away, then remembered the three experience points and the reward chest I’d earned. Quickly, I applied the points to the Crunch Grenades ability. There was only one more experience point left to gain access to it.

I found the Pig Slaughter Reward Chest in my inventory and pulled it out. It was about the size of a jewelry box and looked like an old fashioned, miniaturized pirate chest. Inside there were three coins and a potion that said odor neutralizer. I closed it up and put it back in my inventory.

“Ah, there it is,” said the girl, giving something a wet tug. She struggled, yanking until the piece tore free. It made a wet fart noise as it left the body.

I audibly gagged at the sound.

“Ah, man,” she said, patting her side with her free hand. “No, no, no, where’s my bag?”

“You need a bag?” I said.

“Maybe it dropped off the cliff when I—”

“Here, give it to me,” I said.

She looked at me. “Why?”

“Just, here. Check this out.”

I touched the slimy piece of meat and it vanished into my inventory.

She blinked then abruptly stood.

“Where’d it go? What’d you do with it?”

I stood up as well. “I put it in my Inventory. I’m a Spacialist, it’s an ability I have.”

“Give it back," she said, holding out one hand and tightening her grip on the knife with the other.

“It's cool. I’ll just hold it for you, no prob—”

She pointed her blade at me.

“Whoa, whoa! Okay, Okay. Jeez, I was just trying to be helpful.”

I pulled the chunk of meat out and handed it back to her.

She looked at it, wiggled it, then let out a deep sigh.

“Sorry,” she said. “I'm just a bit sensitive about ... Thought you might be … nevermind. Thank you, by the way, for saving my life. I’m Yuri by the way."

She offered me a blood soaked hand.

I’ll admit I hesitated, but I took it all the same and gave it a good, firm shake.

"Anytime,” I said, with a shrug. “And I’m Jack.”

We released and her eyes started moving from side to side. I realized she was reading something, interacting with her interface. While she couldn’t store things in it like I could, she still had access to nearly everything else I did. Maybe more.

She focused back on me and handed the chunk of meat back.

“It says, because it wasn’t my kill, you have to officially gift it to me or I can’t seed it. You mind?”

“Oh,” I said, shrugging. “Yeah, sure. How do I do that?”

“It’s through the Chat Tab.”

I opened my interface. “I’ve never used this before. Is this like text messaging?”

“What’s your last name,” she said. “I’ll find you.”

“Dall, with an A. Jack Dall.”

“Any numbers?”

“Um, yeah: 889.”

I got a buzz.

Notification

Chat Alert

Yuri2 is requesting to connect with you via chat.

Accept: Yes or No.

And no, you cannot send nudes to each other, you pervert.

I selected Yes.

A blinking cursor appeared in the top left corner of my interface. Then text began to run across the screen.

Yuri2: Testing. You seeing this?

It took me a moment to work out how to dictate text back to her.

Jack889: Yep.

Yuri2: Dictate the word ‘gift’ then forward slash then the word Hog-Goblin Liver.

I did and got a notification informing me that Yuri2 has accepted my gift.

“Thanks,” she said.

I gave her back the liver. “You sure you don’t want me to hold it for you?”

She walked over to the rock ledge and looked down at the place she'd fallen. It was too dark to see anything now.

“I don’t see it,” she said. She looked back at me. “You think I can borrow that thumb of yours real quick?”

I wiggled my thumb and smiled. “That’s what it’s for.”

It didn’t take too long to find the bag once we got back down there. It was practically where she’d fallen. When she picked it up I could see it was laced with silver sequins.

“That’s … fancy,” I said.

She slipped the chunk of liver into the bag and pulled it closed with a drawstring.

“It’s a special bag,” she said, then looked around. “I think that other Hog ran off. He'll probably be back with friends soon.” She looked at me. “Is your place nearby?”

I pulled an apple out of my inventory and took a bite. “Uh … I kind of don’t have a place. I’m on my way to Rockwallow Hollow.”

She nodded. “That’s what I thought. Well ... the path to Rockwallow picks back up over there but you’d be stupid to go at night.” She was about to say something else, then hesitated.

I quickly changed the subject.

“Sorry about, you know, all your big, creepy people plants,” I said.

She sighed, smiled. “Yeah, that was about a week’s worth of growth—all gone. Gah, I hate those stupids hogs so much. This place was so well hidden too.”

I pulled a hot loaf of bread from my inventory and offered it to her. “Something to make you feel better,” I said.

Something neat I’d learned at Gruda’s was that my inventory wasn’t just a storage space, it also froze items in time, which made it a perfect place to store food.

“Oh, hey, look at that,” she said, taking it. She stared at me for a moment, then took a bite. I saw her eyes in the dim light of my candle roll back in pleasure as she chewed. “Oh that’s good. That’s good. Where’d you get this?”

“Uh, from a Gnome in the forest at the base of the mountain.”

She looked up at me, taking another bit.

“Ed ee iv oo a ech ooowaooo?”

“Sorry, what now?”

Yuri swallowed. “I said, is that who gave you the objective in Rockwallow?”

“Yeah, I have to rescue her kid from the Hog-Goblins.”

She pointed at me and said. “Wait a minute, you said you were a Spacialist, right?”

“Yeah, I—”

“Are you affected by time loops?”

“I … I’m not sure. I don’t think so. Why?”

A smile creeped over her face as she swallowed. “I’ve got an objective in Rockwallow, too. It’s been driving me insane, but maybe … maybe you could help me?”

Thematic background music started playing in my head, something exciting with fast strings and deep drums. It caught me off guard at first, then I remembered that special feature.

I shrugged. “Maybe we can help each other?”

She made a "hmm," sound and bit her lip, turned around, and started walking back up the slope.

"So," I said, rubbing my sore jaw. "You don't think they have an Airbnb or something around here, do they?"