Alabaster coming to his rescue made him freeze in shock; he hoped his face was as frozen as his body. After all, getting through this would be much easier with a poker face.

The gray-haired wolf man's eye darted from Alabaster to Shane and back.

"What do you know!" Huffed the aging wolf, who was wiping the glass case down with an indignant ferocity.

"I know you want the business, and I know you put off potential customers with your shitty attitude, old man," replied Alabaster, his measured voice as smooth as it was scathing.

If the shopkeeper's gaze could kill, Alabaster would be dead several times over. Alabaster remained stoic and in control as he nudged Shane forward.

"Now, with the niceties out of the way, my human would like to do some business with you."

The wolf behind the glass counter growled his response.

"Well, aren't you just an understanding Overseer," said the proprietor mockingly.

A hint of a smirk touched Alabaster's lips.

"Go ahead, Shane," Alabaster said gracefully.

When the old wolf wasn't looking, Shane returned his vampire Overseer a thankful wink.

He walked up to the glass counter and carefully placed several items from his inventory upon it.

"Here are the things I want to sell," Shane said as he began placing each item on the relatively clean glass. "A basic shirt, cloth pants, basic sandals, three Bile Sacks, two Rotten Fangs, and this uncommon, powerful mace."

The wolf man's whiskers twitched in annoyance, likely due to an unknowingly broken custom. He threw an intense glare at Shane before inspecting the goods while grumbling under his breath. As the wolf investigated the gear, Shane noticed a mild glow of a ring sitting on the pinky finger of his right hand. Looking back at the shopkeeper made him realize he was reading something while handling what Shane was trying to sell.

Does that ring let him see an item's properties? Shane wondered. His suspicions of the ring's functionality were nearly confirmed when the man's eyes darted back and forth wildly upon handling the spiked iron mace. The aging wolf set the mace down and met Shane's anxious eyes again—with a little more spark within his own.

"I'll give you one silver for the clothes, ten bronze for the monster parts, and…" he paused, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "one gold for the weapon."

Unbeknownst to this old shopkeeper, one of Shane's favorite tv shows involved negotiating at pawn shops for various goods.

"While I agree with your valuation on the clothes and monster parts, I do feel the mace is worth at least two gold," Shane said decisively.

Hints of a snarl appeared on the wolf's maw. Shane could tell he was likely about to have his offer painfully rejected alongside a scathing personal insult. Alabaster placed a supportive hand on Shane's shoulder. The proprietor noticed this and proceeded to rethink his counteroffer.

"That's a pretty cheeky offer, human. One gold and five silver for all of it—mace included—final offer."

Shane forced himself to restrain a devilish smile. It looks like uncommon gear and above has value! At least in this particular shop anyway.

"You're really bending me over a barrel with an offer like that, but I suppose I'll have to accept," Shane said, trying to sound downtrodden.

Shane and the still annoyed-looking wolf exchanged the goods and currency agreed upon. After pocketing his profits, he browsed the proprietor's small but complete inventory that littered the shop's walls. He had an initial urge to buy something using the little spending money he had just acquired. The desire faded, replaced by an idea that made him feel a little warm and fuzzy.

"Excuse me, Mr?..." Shane asked.

"How about you just refer to me as sir, human," the man's tone was far from friendly.

Shane was beginning to lose some patience with this perpetually hostile man.

"Fine…sir, do you have any artifacts with healing properties, like rings or amulets?"

The man's expression softened a little. As Alabaster said, he probably needs the money, Shane mentally acknowledged. He didn't glare at Shane this time and immediately brought out a small black case from the underside of the counter. He lifted it, revealing a tidy and sorted collection of rings and amulets.

"Take all the time you need to browse. I need to get this mace ready for display." His expression was still, but his voice betrayed the joy he felt at a potential buyer.

Shane observed the case in front of him. It was made of a sturdy wood that was either dyed black or was something much more natural and valuable. What was inside was what mattered, and several item windows began to swim in his vision. He quickly sorted through each one, which was easy given they were mostly common in rarity. The one item that kept drawing his gaze, again and again, was an uncommon locket with a particularly potent restorative spell enchanted into the polished iron.

Each item had its own price tag connected to loose pieces of cotton string. While most of the common rings and amulets were between twenty bronze and a few silver coins, this locket had a price tag of three gold. None of the other options would work with what Shane had in mind. It had to be this iron locket.

As he was mulling over how he would barter with the old, grumpy wolf and settle for how much, a new window appeared before his eyes.

-Notice-

-Level 4 Emergency Stealth Quest-

Steal the Iron locket and give it to Alabaster

For a second, Shane didn't know if he would vomit. Sure, the old wolf was a grumpy ass, but he didn't deserve to have things stolen from him. He didn't know what he would do, but some of him knew what he had to do. It was either stealing the locket or becoming corrupted. To him, that was simply a fate worse than death, any way you looked at it.

Shane swallowed the bile rising in his throat, bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, and stuffed the iron locket into a chest pouch of his leather tunic. He whipped around to Alabaster, his face mixed with disgust and self-loathing.

"This is bad, Alabaster. We need to get out of here," he said while walking toward the exit that effectively hid the sun from his shopping experience.

"Why? What's wrong, and what did you shove into your pocket just now?" Asked Alabaster with growing concern.

Shane looked back at him from the shop's entrance, half bathed in mid-day light.

"The system is starting to test me."