He reached out, grabbed Bruce by the cheeks, and squished his doggy face into a ball.
"You rascal, don't think I don't know what you're thinking! It's not Four Seas General Goods you want to visit—it's the pile of milky-sweet little cookies Annis fed you on the carriage!"
With his mouth being squeezed, Bruce let out a muffled "whine, whine," but his tail wagged rapidly of its own accord, and his eyes were full of longing for those milky-sweet cookies.
"Get to work!" He Xi let go and gave Bruce a disgruntled pat on the head. "A shit-yellow dog like you has more tricks than most! Hurry up!"
"I'm brown and white, not shit-yellow."
"That doesn't matter, Bruce."
Seeing that Bruce was still a little reluctant, He Xi had no choice but to bring out his trump card:
"Once we sell the crystal core, I'll take you to that place called The Beastfolk and the Lute. Then I'll get you a Cracked Hoof Bull rib, meat and bone included."
Bruce's eyes lit up at once. His yearning for the cookies was instantly forgotten.
He turned into a brown-and-white bolt of lightning and charged headfirst into the depths of Copper Nail Alley.
After sending Bruce off on his "reconnaissance mission,"
He Xi had a quick look around and soon found an armor shop that seemed decent. He spent 23 Silver Scales on a well-made suit of layered cloth armor.
This armor, sewn from multiple layers of thick cloth, could absorb the force of sword and knife strikes and offered decent protection.
More importantly, even if this layer of armor was breached, he still had his own [Thick Skin] trait as a second line of defense.
With cloth armor on the outside and thick skin underneath, He Xi felt completely safe.