Awakening：The Infinite Evolution of My Talent as a Low-Level Awakener - Chapter 601

Chapter 601: Chapter 601: Phantom Purgatory! The Qualification to Break the Essence!
“It’s done!”

Sterl felt a wave of pure bliss, and a surge of uncontrollable excitement and thrill spread across his face.

He could sense that the transformation of his eyes was now fully complete, and the third ability of Soul Prison’s Eerie Eyes had successfully activated.

[3. Phantom Purgatory]

Type: Special Ability

Description: A Purgatory Space is generated within the eyes. Anyone within the line of sight will have their soul instantly pulled into the Purgatory Space. The negative emotions of the enemy will turn into soul thorns, penetrating their very soul. Any soul with power weaker than yours will be completely imprisoned.

At the same time, the souls within the Purgatory Space will endure the endless burning of the Soul Purgatory Fire, inflicting 1% to 100% soul damage every second!

All souls that perish in the Purgatory Space will become your puppets, permanently trapped within the Purgatory Space, fully under your control.

The souls turned into puppets will possess soul immortality; upon death, they will automatically be resurrected in the Purgatory Space. The time for resurrection is determined by the strength of the soul puppet.

Note: This is a forbidden power that should not exist in the world! As the possessor of such a forbidden power, it may be a great opportunity—but it could also bring disaster!

Staring intently at the third ability activated in Soul Prison’s Eerie Eyes, Sterl was momentarily stunned, so much so that he forgot to breathe.

It wasn’t until a slight heaviness began to settle in his chest that he snapped back from his daze.

“What… How is this even possible!?”

Even though he had anticipated that the third ability of Soul Prison’s Eerie Eyes would be powerful, he never expected it to be this powerful.

It was beyond words like strong or terrifying—it was an utterly monstrous, ultimate ability!

As soon as an enemy is pulled into the Purgatory Space, any soul weaker than his would be pierced and imprisoned by soul thorns, losing all ability to resist.

On top of that, the soul damage dealt every second, ranging from 1% to 100%, was far stronger than any physical damage. It completely bypasses all forms of defense and barriers, attacking the soul directly—there was simply no way to defend against it!

The most crucial part was that, like the previous two abilities, there was no limit based on strength. That meant, even the legendary Divine Power entities, upon having their souls dragged into the Purgatory Space, would take at least 1% soul damage every second. If sustained for 100 seconds, even a mighty Divine Power would not survive!

“Phantom Purgatory, Purgatory Space… If this is the case, even a Divine Authority would surely die without question, right?”

He carefully recalled the general strength of the Silver Moon Wolf God, running a quick simulation of a potential battle in his mind. After imagining the series of moves he could execute, he couldn’t think of a way the Silver Moon Wolf God could endure them.

Compared to the third ability of Soul Prison’s Eerie Eyes, the previous abilities—Soul Insight and Soul Absorption—seemed almost insignificant.

No wonder Phantom Purgatory required additional high-level soul power to activate. A power of this magnitude should not even exist in this world. It was nothing short of an embodiment of disaster and destruction!

What was even more frightening was how these three abilities complemented each other. Soul Insight weakened the enemy first, then Soul Absorption steadily drained them, and finally, Phantom Purgatory acted as the absolute domain of death itself—everything in sight would have its soul reaped.

“This truly feels like becoming invincible!” Sterl’s heart pounded in his chest, his excitement barely contained. He almost wanted to rush straight to the battlefield between the Orichalcum Kingdom and the Ashen Temple, eager to wreak havoc.

But, his rationality managed to rein him in.

Although the fully awakened Soul Prison’s Eerie Eyes were terrifying, Sterl knew one fundamental truth: the more powerful an ability, the greater its cost.

Focusing his mind on Soul Prison’s Eerie Eyes, he carefully sensed its abilities. His excitement quickly dimmed as a hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes.

As he had suspected, while the power of Phantom Purgatory was indeed monstrous, its cost was equally horrifying.

This ability did not consume any Divine Power or energy. The only thing it consumed was soul power!

And this consumption was fixed: once Phantom Purgatory was activated, it would drain 30% of his current soul power every second!

No matter how much soul power he had, the consumption would always be 30% per second. This meant he could only sustain Phantom Purgatory for just over 3 seconds before his soul power was completely depleted.

Of course, the consumption required to trap enemies’ souls with Soul Thorns was minimal—about 1% of his soul power per second. As for controlling the soul puppets that had been annihilated in Purgatory Space, that consumption was even lower. With his current soul power regeneration rate, he could maintain this drain without much difficulty.

“This consumption is just absurd. I never imagined I’d become a ‘three-second man’…” he said with a wry smile. Though he had expected the cost to be high, the reality of it still left him in shock.

However, this is the most fundamental law and cost—if you seek the ultimate power, you must pay the highest price!

And although it can only last for three seconds, if you do the math, the damage it can inflict is already terrifying.

With a soul damage of 30% per second, three seconds would be enough to completely obliterate an enemy. Even if it only causes 20% per second, within three seconds, the enemy would still be left in a state of severe soul injury.

Soul injury and physical injury are not the same thing at all. Sterl knew this well. After suffering soul injury, the entire mental will would be plunged into chaos and agony, making it nearly impossible to remain conscious, let alone display any combat ability.

In other words, even a Great Divine Power, if dragged into Purgatory Space, would still suffer 3% soul damage every second.

It’s worth noting that even the most powerful Divine Power entities, when attacked at all costs by other Great Divine Powers, would never sustain any actual injuries.

This is a fundamental gap, and Sterl, now, already possessed the means to break through that gap!

He believed that as his soul level continued to rise, there would come a day when even the legendary Great Divine Powers would be reduced to mere puppets inside his Purgatory Space.

“I wonder how much high-level soul power will be needed for the next breakthrough, and whether it will unlock a new, even more powerful ability…”

Coming back to his senses, Sterl couldn’t help but revel in the thought. He’d just broken through his first limit and gained such a terrifying forbidden talent. If the second breakthrough followed the same pattern, the resulting talent should be even stronger!

But breaking through the first limit and fully awakening this new talent had already consumed 750 points of high-level soul power—equivalent to the souls of 75 faint Divine Powers. Clearly, the second breakthrough would require even more high-level soul power.

Accumulating enough high-level soul power was one thing; being able to withstand the terrifying backlash from the second breakthrough was another. That kind of backlash could be lethal!

With this thought in mind, Sterl felt both anticipation and caution. But having learned from this experience, he would be far more prepared for the next time.

His attention shifted as he willed his focus away from his eyes. On the surface, the deep, Black Hole-like depths of his gaze gradually returned to normal. The strange phenomenon in the surrounding environment and the oppressive force that had hung over him faded away entirely.

As long as Sterl didn’t actively activate the power of Soul Prison’s Eerie Eyes, no one would be able to detect the ability hidden within him.

“If only Soul Prison’s Eerie Eyes could be upgraded with a cheat.”

Sterl muttered to himself, then paused slightly, a sudden realization dawning on him. He quickly accessed his attribute interface and focused on the section indicating his talents.

To his surprise, right after Soul Prison’s Eerie Eyes, there was a gray plus sign!

At the sight of this, Sterl’s heart skipped a beat, and a sharp gleam flashed in his eyes.

“It really works!? But… it wasn’t there just now…”

Sterl hesitated for a moment. It seemed that the ability hadn’t fully awakened before, and that might have been why the cheat couldn’t evolve it. Now, with the ability fully activated, the evolution was possible.

Looking at the gray plus sign, Sterl felt his heart race, and an uncontrollable surge of excitement rose within him. He could almost picture it—his eyes sweeping across the gods, his will reigning over them like a supreme soul overlord!

“Such a pity. I used today’s evolution opportunity to restore Illusory Dream… I’ll have to wait until the next time to attempt the upgrade.”

He sighed inwardly, feeling a pang of regret. After all, Illusory Dream was his strongest trump card at the moment, and he needed to ensure that he had enough Dream Power to fuel it. He hadn’t expected that, by accident, he’d awakened such a powerful talent.

What had been a special talent without any defined level had now revealed abilities far greater than an SSS-class talent—truly mind-blowing!

“With everything in place, Soul Prison’s Eerie Eyes by my side, and 160,000 soul power boosting me, my survivability is more than enough to handle any sudden danger.”

Sterl calmly analyzed his situation.

Now, it was time to move. Over the past two days, the calls for help from the underworld had grown more urgent. If he didn’t act soon, by the time he arrived, everything would already be too late.

With a thought, Sterl suppressed his presence to the utmost. His appearance began to blur, and when it cleared, he had transformed into a middle-aged man with a cold, imposing demeanor. Aside from the resemblance in aura and bone structure, the rest of his features had changed entirely.

For safety’s sake, whenever he entered a new area, he always disguised himself. With his current disguise ability, even an Upper Divine Authority wouldn’t be able to see through it.

Even powerful Divine Powers might not be able to discern his true identity. After all, his disguise technique had been tested and refined during his time in the capital of Orichalcum!