Awakening：The Infinite Evolution of My Talent as a Low-Level Awakener - Chapter 640

Chapter 640: Chapter 639: Waste Utilization, The Bane of Intruders?
“Let’s see if we can make use of it.”

Sterl asked gravely, his tone betraying a trace of emotion.

The secretions he had collected before were remnants left behind after the Silver Spiders had perished. They showed no signs of the mysterious gray energy he sought. Yet, to his surprise, these secretions released by the broodmother actually contained traces of that power!

Once the God of Evil Wasps recovered, Sterl instructed her to attempt absorption of the secretions without the augmentation of the mysterious energy, to see if they could still be refined and utilized.

However, it only took moments before the God of Evil Wasps’ face revealed a tinge of helplessness.

“Please, Master, punish me. I cannot extract any nourishment or energy from this substance…”

She answered cautiously, her own confusion apparent.

Logically, such a peculiar substance, capable of resisting her master’s attacks and accommodating that mysterious, potent energy, should itself be an extraordinary material.

It was akin to the highly condensed honey crystals produced by the Evil Wasp race—imbued with immense energy and of great value. Yet, this substance was like a pool of putrid, rotting water—entirely devoid of value or utility.

This was beyond her comprehension, so she dared not speak further.

“Leave.”

Sterl waved his hand dismissively, watching the viscous, expanding slime barrier in front of him with cold eyes.

“Very well… Do you really think I can’t deal with you?”

Taking a deep breath, it was evident that Sterl had underestimated the eerie power and immense strength of these creatures.

Not only that, but their system was deeply enigmatic. He refused to believe these secretions were without value; rather, it seemed no other life forms could make use of them—apart from their source.

“In that case, let me see just how strong your foundation truly is!”

Wasting no more time, since this broodmother had chosen to hide behind her protective shell, he resolved to shatter it.

“Celestial Stars! Celestial Stars! Celestial Stars! Rain down!!”

Pointing a single hand skyward, Sterl’s internal power surged and began depleting rapidly. Above, meteors rained down from the heavens, hurtling directly toward the barrier formed by the broodmother’s secretions.

BOOM!

The power of the Celestial Stars wreaked havoc upon the barrier, eroding the energy within the secretions piece by piece.

Hundreds of meteors rained down in succession. Augmented by the effects of Starlight Spray and Cursed Vision, their destructive force perfectly concentrated on the barrier.

Aftermath of Celestial Stars’ Fury

Once the destructive power of the hundreds of Celestial Stars dissipated, the once-impenetrable slime barrier, hundreds of meters thick, was left riddled with countless craters.

Upon closer inspection, however, the damage penetrated only about one-tenth of the barrier’s total thickness.

Not only that, but after all the force of the Celestial Stars had dissipated, the damaged sections began to regenerate at a speed visible to the naked eye. Before long, the barrier had completely restored itself to its original state.

Sterl’s eyelid twitched as he stared at the formidable “turtle shell.” For a moment, he found himself at a loss for how to proceed.

He couldn’t just waste time like this indefinitely.

Even if he could endure it, the question remained whether Hell itself could sustain such prolonged efforts. Though his current energy reserves, recovery ability, and stamina were absurdly high, compared to the broodmother’s nearly invincible regenerative capabilities, the disparity was glaring.

A faint sense of helplessness crept into his mind.

He realized that brute force attacks had little meaningful effect here. Even if he managed to momentarily pierce the barrier’s defenses or even annihilate the broodmother entirely, as long as the secretions were not completely depleted, the broodmother could regenerate endlessly.

Sterl had already confirmed this—he had seen her withstand a nuclear explosion, only to recover amidst the devastation.

To truly eliminate the broodmother, he would need to completely drain her resources. Yet, this goal seemed trapped in an endless loop.

“Wait…”

Sterl paused abruptly, a sudden flash of inspiration illuminating his mind.

Since these secretions could only be utilized by the broodmother and her kind, why not try cultivating a creature of his own that could use them?

As for how to go about it…

With a wave of his hand, over seventy Silver Mantises and six Earth Wolves appeared before him.

These creatures, however, had lost their souls and were nothing more than lifeless statues.

With a subtle mental command, the puppet souls he had kept suspended in the air above Purgatory were released, returning to their respective bodies.

To Sterl’s delight, the monsters, originally born of the broodmother, began to stir and come back to life under his excited gaze.

“Let’s see if these secretions actually serve a purpose,” Sterl murmured to himself.

From his Small World, he retrieved a significant stockpile of the secretions he had stored earlier. Distributing the substance evenly among the puppets, he watched closely, anticipation flickering in his eyes.

Under Sterl’s command, all the silver puppets immediately consumed the secretions.

It wasn’t long before the puppets began to swell visibly, their very forms expanding, and their auras intensifying alongside.

“Could it actually work?!”

A gleam of excitement flashed through Sterl’s eyes. Without hesitation, he decided to submerge the puppets entirely into the pool of secretions.

Sterl had accumulated an enormous supply of silvery liquid during his ventures into the fourth layer of Hell. More recently, he had collected countless remnants from the shattered torrents of silver, amassing an almost limitless reserve of this substance.

As the puppets were immersed in the secretions, their absorption rate accelerated dramatically. The energy emanating from their forms grew increasingly powerful.

For a while, it seemed as though this process could continue indefinitely. However, after roughly ten minutes of absorption, the puppets began to slow down, halting their growth entirely.

A surge of information flowed from the souls of the puppets into Sterl’s mind. The message was clear: they had reached the limits of what their souls could endure. Any further attempts to absorb and amplify their power would cause their souls to collapse under the strain, leading to their destruction.

“Soul limits?”

Sterl narrowed his eyes slightly, scrutinizing the silver puppets.

The Silver Mantises had grown several times their original size, now resembling sleek, deadly mechs that radiated an aura of cold indifference and merciless precision.

The Silver Earth Wolves had undergone a similar transformation. Their bodies had expanded significantly, and their auras had grown exponentially stronger.

Still, the exact increase in combat effectiveness remained to be seen and would require testing in real battle.

As for the soul limit, it seemed to be caused by the insufficient volume and strength of the puppets’ souls. Sterl suspected the issue lay primarily with their soul capacity.

The broodmother, by contrast, possessed an unimaginably vast soul, enabling it to accommodate endless amounts of material with ease.

Sterl already had a plan to address this: by using the Soul Devourer Sphere, he could directly enhance the soul capacity of his puppets.

“Go! Destroy that turtle shell for me!”

Sterl pointed forward as he issued the command.

Immediately, nearly eighty Silver Mantises erupted with terrifying speed, launching themselves at the slime barrier. Their razor-sharp scythes gleamed as they slashed into the defensive layer with surgical precision.

The Earth Wolves weren’t idle either. They lunged forward with reckless abandon, tearing and gnawing at the barrier in a frenzy of destruction.

“Incredible speed…”

A look of delight spread across Sterl’s face. After absorbing such a vast amount of secretions, the Silver Mantises’ speed rivaled that of the God of Evil Wasps, who had mastered the Divine Authority of Speed!

Moreover, the destructive power of the puppets had significantly increased. Every strike dealt considerable damage to the barrier.

The Earth Wolves’ overall combat strength had nearly doubled. Even without the augmentation of the mysterious gray energy, these creatures could hold their own against weaker gods wielding minor Divine Power in one-on-one battles.

Sterl ran a few additional tests and, after confirming that the enslaved puppet souls showed no signs of rebellion, he relaxed his guard and recalled all the puppets.

What surprised him, however, was the behavior of the mysterious gray energy within the slime barrier. It hadn’t actively attempted to corrode or harm the puppets. On the contrary, a portion of it had even fused into their bodies temporarily.

That fused energy, however, dissipated quickly after the puppets left the barrier.

This unexpected discovery filled Sterl with both surprise and excitement.

If that’s the case, couldn’t these puppets be turned into weapons against the invaders?

Running a simulation in his mind, Sterl’s lips almost curved into a smirk. If the gray energy did not actively erode the silver puppets, then they could completely ignore the majority of the broodmother’s monsters.

Moreover, after killing those creatures, the secretions left behind could be absorbed by the puppets, enhancing or regenerating them. By sheer coincidence, this batch of puppets, under Sterl’s deliberate manipulation, had inadvertently become the bane of these invaders!

Even so, using them to break through the barrier directly was still a pipe dream.

Sterl, however, had already devised a highly feasible plan.

He recalled the puppets once more, knowing that his current soul energy reserves were severely depleted. Without sufficient resources to further enhance them, it would be better to hold off for now.

Shifting his gaze toward the broodmother, Sterl’s eyes grew deep and unfathomable, like two spiraling black holes.

This was the manifestation of his Soul Prison’s Eerie Eyes.

In the realm of the soul, Sterl’s perspective shifted. Above his body, a massive, ominous Gate of Purgatory began to open slowly.

Countless souls imprisoned within the Purgatory Space howled madly from the depths of the gate. The chilling cries alone were enough to make one’s soul tremble and mind falter.

This was Sterl’s plan.

Within his Purgatory Space, he had amassed the souls of tens of millions of creatures. His next move was to release these enslaved puppet souls and launch a direct assault on the barrier at the soul level.

While the souls of these creatures were originally birthed by the broodmother and were individually weak, their refinement into puppets had granted them absolute immortality.

Thus, by commanding millions of indestructible puppet souls in a suicidal assault, Sterl was determined to shatter that impregnable “turtle shell”!