Awakening：The Infinite Evolution of My Talent as a Low-Level Awakener - Chapter 644

Chapter 644: Chapter 644: The Terrifying Nature of the Broodmother’s Soul
Sterl observed that after absorbing the soul energy, the soul puppets had indeed grown slightly in size. However, this increase wasn’t a fundamental enhancement—it merely added ordinary soul volume to their existing high-tier Divine Authority-level quality souls.

“Forget it. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work,” he muttered.

Sterl had initially hoped that using ordinary soul energy could directly enhance the fundamental capacity of the soul puppets. If successful, it would have allowed him to convert ordinary soul energy into high-level soul energy in a roundabout way.

But it was clear he had been overly optimistic.

This outcome made sense. Though both ordinary and high-level soul energy belonged to the same category, their essences were entirely different.

Even if ordinary soul energy could increase the total soul volume of the puppets, the conversion ratio would likely be so steep that it would hardly be worth the effort.

At this rate, hunting a few gods would be a far more efficient way to enhance his resources.

“Even though I currently have plenty of soul energy, it’s still far too wasteful to try enhancing all the soul puppets at once,” Sterl mused.

With his current reserve of 300,000 soul points, spreading it across all the soul puppets would mean each puppet could only absorb a few hundred points—barely making any difference while depleting his hard-earned resources.

The most effective approach would be to selectively enhance only the strongest puppets. After all, quality always trumps quantity.

Cannon fodder is just that—fodder. True elites are the ones who can relieve the pressure in battle.

Making his decision, Sterl scanned the 78 Silver Mantis puppets and selected three. He then picked one from the six Silver Earth Wolf puppets.

He connected the Soul Devourer Sphere to these four elite puppets and, with a single thought, began channeling vast amounts of soul energy into them.

As the energy flowed, the soul capacity of the puppets began expanding rapidly, inflating like balloons. Their previous limits were quickly surpassed.

Once each puppet had absorbed 1,000 soul points, Sterl halted the process.

“This will do,” he muttered, a faint twinge of pain crossing his face.

At 1,000 points per puppet, he had spent 4,000 soul points in total—enough to boost his own vitality by at least 10%.

“Let’s see what 1,000 soul points can do.”

Sterl examined the four enhanced soul puppets closely. After absorbing the energy, they stood out significantly from the rest.

Their forms radiated a distinct and undeniable aura of power, their once-uniform presence now exuding a weight and intensity that separated them from the standard puppets.

The most notable difference was the increase in their soul capacity, now significantly larger than before.

“Let’s see how far you can go,” Sterl muttered.

He infused the souls of the four enhanced puppets into their corresponding bodies. Then, releasing a generous amount of broodmother secretions, he watched as the puppets—once thought to have reached their limit—began greedily absorbing the material once more.

Their bodies swelled, and the once-silver sheen of their forms deepened into a richer, more profound hue.

By the time the four puppets reached their new soul limits, they had absorbed more secretions than twenty unenhanced puppets combined.

“It seems the results are promising,” Sterl said with a satisfied smile.

At his command, the four puppets moved swiftly, their speed blurring them into ghostly white streaks.

The three Silver Mantis puppets, in particular, displayed agility far beyond their prior capabilities, nearing the speed of the Silver Moon Wolf God.

To put that into perspective, the Silver Moon Wolf God was a high-tier Divine Authority, known for being one of the fastest among its rank.

Moreover, the Silver Mantis puppets now exuded a subtler presence. If Sterl weren’t their master, even he would struggle to detect their aura.

Their twin scythe-like blades had also undergone a transformation. While they no longer carried the mysterious gray energy, they now radiated a sharp, piercing soul energy, lethal in its own right.

This new energy seemed to possess a damaging effect on souls, making it just as dangerous to most beings as the gray energy that once eroded all forms of power.

With their enhanced stealth, terrifying speed, and nearly indestructible scythes, these puppets had become deadly weapons—capable of hunting gods.

“It’s a shame,” Sterl mused, “that the Purgatory Space can only enslave their souls and not their bodies. These broodmother-spawned creatures can merge with secretions to achieve limitless enhancements.”

He sighed in regret. While the puppets’ bodies could heal using the secretions, should they be completely destroyed, there would be no way for him to restore them.

Still, it was an unexpected boon, and Sterl didn’t dwell on the limitations.

As for the Silver Earth Wolf, while its speed was inferior to the Silver Mantis puppets, it possessed the ability to teleport.

This ability bore some resemblance to his Boots of the Void, though there was a significant difference: while the Boots of the Void allowed him to teleport up to a kilometer, the Silver Earth Wolf could teleport across tens of thousands of meters in an instant.

Now, after absorbing a substantial amount of secretions, the Silver Earth Wolf could teleport without emitting even the faintest ripple of energy—silent, invisible, and utterly terrifying.

With a wave of his hand, Sterl stored the puppets away once more.

He then reopened the Purgatory Space, releasing the soul puppet formed from the broodmother’s soul.

“It seems this will likely be the only broodmother soul I’ll ever obtain,” Sterl murmured, narrowing his eyes. “Those mysterious forces behind the scenes already know about the danger I pose. If any future broodmother falls, its soul will shatter instantly like before, giving me no opportunity to capture it.”

Though this realization could have been disappointing, Sterl instead found himself intrigued and filled with anticipation.

After all, he already knew that the broodmother’s soul was of extraordinary quality, even surpassing the level of high-tier Divine Authority.

If the fusion monster’s soul, which originated from the broodmother, could unleash immense power, then the broodmother’s own soul should be even more formidable.

“Now, show me what you can do,” Sterl said, his gaze fixed on the small worm-like soul creature before him.

The sight of it was unsettling. Its body was covered in tiny, pore-like holes, each housing a blinking, grotesque eye.

At Sterl’s command, the broodmother soul puppet began to wriggle and move.

“What is it doing?” Sterl muttered, his eyes narrowing further.

The broodmother puppet opened its long, tube-like mouth wide as though consuming something. Simultaneously, the fissure at the end of its tail expanded.

The scene was eerily familiar to Sterl. It mirrored what he had seen before—when the broodmother was spawning swarms of creatures!

“Could it be…”

Taking a deep breath, Sterl’s heart tightened as suspicion crept into his expression.

Minutes passed without incident. The puppet remained in the same position, continuing its odd movements.

Sterl wasn’t impatient, choosing to observe in silence.

Finally, after about ten minutes, something extraordinary happened.

The fissure at the broodmother puppet’s tail opened further, and it ejected over a hundred egg-like objects in rapid succession.

In the blink of an eye, the eggs burst apart, releasing small worm-like creatures that bore a striking resemblance to the broodmother.

These creatures weren’t physical entities but instead existed in a soul state.

Sterl stared, dumbfounded, his eyes wide in disbelief as he watched the scene unfold.

He never could have imagined that the broodmother puppet would actually begin spawning life—and not just any life, but soul-based creatures!

Sterl stood frozen in place, stunned by what he had just witnessed. But he quickly snapped out of it and hurriedly checked the broodmother soul puppet’s condition.

There were no abnormalities—it was exactly the same as before.

“So that’s it! The Purgatory Space opened by Soul Prison’s Eerie Eyes must be connected to another world! That’s why my soul puppets, as long as their true spirits remain intact, can constantly regenerate. And now this strange broodmother soul, after being refined into a puppet, can draw soul energy from that unknown place to spawn soul-based creatures!”

He spoke aloud, articulating his theory. Though it was still just a hypothesis, it felt almost certain to him.

Energy couldn’t come from nowhere. Since the broodmother had spawned soul creatures, yet its soul capacity hadn’t diminished and Sterl hadn’t experienced any consumption, the energy required for the process had to originate from somewhere else.

“What’s more… the soul creatures spawned by the broodmother are automatically marked with the Purgatory Space’s puppet seal!

This means the broodmother puppet can produce an endless supply of souls for me!”

Sterl’s heart raced, his excitement erupting like a volcano. His face twitched with barely contained exhilaration.

“I’ve struck gold! This time, I’ve really hit the jackpot!”

It took him a while to calm down, the realization of what he had inadvertently stumbled upon still overwhelming him.

Through sheer luck, he had acquired an inexhaustible treasure trove—a resource he could harvest endlessly.

No wonder the entities behind the broodmothers valued their souls so highly. They would rather destroy them outright than risk them falling into the hands of someone else. It was because the broodmother soul had this unparalleled ability!

What Sterl didn’t realize, however, was that the Soulforge Fire had triggered a unique transformation within the broodmother’s soul. Normally, a broodmother’s soul required a corresponding physical body to absorb material energy and spawn creatures.

“Pity… I’ll probably never get another broodmother soul again,” Sterl said after his initial wave of euphoria, his tone tinged with regret.

The human heart is insatiable, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant, he thought to himself with a wry smile, realizing how greedy he sounded.

Turning his attention to the puppet’s creations, Sterl examined the soul worms the broodmother had spawned. To his astonishment, their quality and capacity were equivalent to the souls of ordinary living beings.

In other words, refining these 100 worm-like souls could yield him 1 point of soul energy.

Ten minutes to produce 1 point, which translated to 144 soul points per day.

…