Re-Awakening: I Became a Pay To Win Boss Monster

They approached the sign, stopping right before it.

It had a pretty fancy name, the Soul Sucker Society.

He really hoped it wasn't anything lewd, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

Still, he wasn't really sure where to go from here.

"Shouldn't shops have... you know, an entrance maybe?" Rael wondered out loud.

Zafira nodded slowly, letting go of his hand and approaching the sign itself.

She placed her hand on it, and in the very next moment, a door-sized blue portal appeared.

Rael chuckled.

"That works."

A faint smile appeared on Zafira's face as she stepped inside, and so did he.

Immediately, the sight of a run-down shop greeted them.

There were a dozen contraptions everywhere, and each seemed to be extremely dated.

Machinery, magic, and some... questionable items Rael had hoped not to see.

Even so, when they approached the front desk and rang the bell, a woman came out running from the back.

She wore a dark wizard robe and a pointy black hat.

Not only that, she had a pirate eye patch over her right eye, and...

"A loli..." Rael muttered, earning a bonk from Zafira.

"W-What he meant was that you look short," Zafira corrected, earning a bonk from the woman.

"I'm neither short nor a loli!" the woman yelled. "I'm just... I'm still growing."

"Okay." Rael defused the situation, a slight smirk forming on his face. "Do you want to buy some special grape juice? I heard it accelerates growth."

The woman opened her mouth, ready to lash out at him; however...

"How much?"

"How much money do you have?"

"Money is no object." The woman puffed her chest. "Name your price for this growth elixir, and I will consider it."

"Hmm..."

•—Premium Shop—•

Category: Drinks/Grape Juice

•—Balance: 97,730,974,163 Trell—•

• Simple Bottle of Grape Juice (Common): 50 Trell

"How does 1 million Trell sound?" Rael bargained. "But for you... I'll give a 50% discount. So how's that? 500,000 Trell, take it or leave it."

The woman's eyes lit up as she extended her hand, a wide smile on her face.

He accepted the hand, and soon, the offer came.

<Payment Received: 2,500,000 Trell. Accept? Yes/No>

<Confirmed.>

<Balance Updated: +2,500,000 Trell | New Balance: 97,733,474,163 Trell>

"I'll take five," the woman said, and with that, Rael handed her the grape juice.

Her eyes sparkled as she chugged it in an instant, and then...

"It tastes so sweet... I feel like..." she trailed off, her expression hardening. "Thank you, but I'm sure you didn't come here just to peddle your growth elixir, yes?"

Rael nodded with a straight face as he reached into his soul storage and pulled out the Blue Orc's soul.

It was still the same small green marble he had seen earlier, just this time, it seemed a little more condensed.

<Blue Orc Soul (Uncommon) [Grade 2]>

The woman took the soul from his hands and inspected it, her expression shifting through a mix of emotions before settling on one in particular.

Disappointment.

"Do you have any more?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"Haa..." She rubbed her temples. "Seriously... newbies like you have abilities that let you gather souls and yet you gather such... trash."

"Name's Diana, by the way," the woman introduced herself as she put the soul on the counter.

"Look, I'll be frank with you..." She sighed. "The soul is shit. And the most I can give you for it is 4 billion Trell. But that's only because I wish to return the favor of you giving me the growth elixir."

"Yeah...?" Rael tilted his head. "Sorry, but what exactly makes a soul good? Is it just the rarity and grade?"

Diana nodded.

"That's indeed the case. Each grade has its set amount of rarities, and Uncommon is on the very shabby end. We collectors can't do much with it aside from maybe resurrecting it to work for us, or consuming it to grow slightly stronger. But even then, I wouldn't normally buy a soul like this since the benefits are... minor."

"What kind of benefits?" Zafira asked.

She seemed unusually eager to hear it.

"Hmm... skills, I suppose?" Diana replied. "The rarer the soul, the better the traits we can inherit. If the grade is higher, even better, you know?"

"I see..." Zafira nodded, then turned to Rael. "Are you going to sell it? Or do you want to keep it?"

It seemed more of a test than a question, and almost as if by instinct, Rael felt like he should keep that soul.

As an apology, he plopped five more bottles of grape juice on the table and reclaimed the Blue Orc's soul.

"Sorry about that... I'll make sure to come back with slightly better souls next time," Rael said plainly.

"Hmm..." Diana's brows furrowed, but once she saw the bottles of grape juice on the counter, she gave in.

"Very well. Though you should know I only accept souls that are at the very least Epic rarity. The grade doesn't matter," Diana added. "Oh, and beautiful wife, by the way. Do you want some toys? I have a few lying around."

She pointed toward the strange section on her left.

"Take your pick."

Yet Rael merely rolled his eyes and walked back toward the door.

He was expecting a portal to appear, but it didn't.

So out of curiosity, he placed his hand on the doorknob and pushed the door open.

Like before, the portal opened, and the two stepped through, appearing in that same bar lounge as before.

It was an interesting place, full of seemingly endless possibilities.

But he was curious about a few things in particular.

For one...

How do I set up my own shop? Can I even set up my own shop?

The moment those thoughts fell, a certain pop-up appeared in front of him.

<Would you like to buy a Pocket Dimension (Small) for 50,000,000,000 [50 Billion] Trell?>

<Yes / No>

<Notice: You may set up whichever shop you'd like inside, and you get to keep 100% of the profits.>

Rael tilted his head.

Should I...?