Not one to question Eve, Alan nodded at the shopkeeper. “Alright. Deal.”

Two messages popped up:

The shopkeeper grinned, putting his hand into an unseen pocket, bringing out a pitch black metal coin with a cloaked figure on one side, a pile of miniature metal cubes on the other. The shopkeeper flipped the coin at Alan, who caught it without a second thought. When Alan tried to examine it more closely, the images distorted, showing no detail.

“You’ll find that there are a number of shops in the Game that will buy and sell more unsavory items, including those acquired through… different means. Simply show them that coin and they should be willing to take a look at whatever it is you want to sell, from items to information to favors. The stores will also sell you an expanded range of items. I’ll upload the names of a few of these unique stores to your AI. Should you distinguish yourself as a customer, various other locations may open up to you.”

“Thanks," Alan said. "Uh, where are the, um, additional items you sell? If you don’t mind me asking of course.”

The shopkeeper grinned, leaning forward, and whispered, “Changing room third from the left. Walk through the mirror. Take the item you want, then leave the shop, invisible, as I doubt anyone saw you coming in.”

The shopkeeper then leaned back, and, patting his belly, said, more loudly, “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Um, yeah, you too.”

Alan entered into the designated room, then walked through the changing room mirror that covered the back wall. The mirror turned out to be a hologram, a projected image. He entered a small space about the size of a few supply closets squished together, extended behind the five changing rooms. Now that he knew what was back here, he could recall the dimensions of the changing rooms seeming a bit off.

The space was dimly lit. Each shelf had a digital price tag displayed, ranging from 100 to 100k credits along with various items. None of the items were labeled, but when asked, Eve displayed descriptions of the various items that had been in the database the Thought Emporium provided. All but a few of the items were known. On the left there were a few packaged items which were most likely mass produced, but illegal to sell.

One shelf held numerous kits intended for a non-standard class. Alan examined a basic thief’s kit, which contained a set of lock picks, a weak laser cutter, and other miscellaneous but no doubt useful tools. Another was labeled as a basic hacker kit, another an assassin’s kit. Each cost 5000 credits. If Alan had wanted to be any of those classes, he’d have picked the package up immediately. But he didn't yet know what class he wanted, so he continued on.

On the next three shelves there were numerous weapons, from bandoliers of grenades to modified shotguns. None of the weapons looked especially dangerous or illegal to Alan, but he assumed there was some reason they were being sold back here. Come to think of it though, he hadn’t seen anyone in the main trading hub selling grenades or rocket launchers or other explosives.