Awakening：The Infinite Evolution of My Talent as a Low-Level Awakener - Chapter 645

Chapter 645: Chapter 645: Elevation of the Maternal Soul Essence! Production Capacity Soars!
Though the quantity wasn’t significant, it required neither time nor resources from Sterl—it was entirely effortless. A free advantage like this was undoubtedly worth seizing. Moreover, given enough time, even a modest trickle could accumulate into a considerable profit.

“Although the maternal puppet can only nurture a hundred souls at a time for now, if I pour in a substantial amount of soul power for enhancement…”

Sterl’s eyes gleamed with sharp intent at the thought.

It was akin to an investment: the process would consume a significant amount of soul resources, but if the maternal vessel’s limits could be pushed further, the potential benefits would be unimaginable.

However, just as he was calculating the possibilities, the maternal puppet that had just finished producing the batch of souls ceased its movements. Sterl’s attention immediately snapped to the vessel, concerned it might require half a day of recovery after each cycle. Such downtime would drastically reduce its value, relegating it to a state of “not worth much, but too good to waste.”

But in the next moment, Sterl realized his concerns were completely unfounded.

The grayish-black fur covering the maternal puppet began to tremble faintly, and the countless eyeballs embedded in its surface pulsed rhythmically with a peculiar cadence. Suddenly, the hundred newly formed souls reacted as though receiving a command, rapidly converging into a single entity.

Under Sterl’s astonished gaze, these minute soul-worms began to merge with one another.

“This… this is…”

Sterl’s eyes widened in disbelief, locked onto the unfolding phenomenon. Never in his wildest thoughts had he anticipated that the maternal puppet, despite appearing drained, could still perform such an extraordinary feat.

In less than ten seconds, the hundred ordinary souls had fully fused, transforming into a larger worm that shimmered with a faint, crystalline glow.

The entire process occurred seamlessly, without any conflict or mishap—like a stream of water flowing effortlessly, silent and smooth.

Sterl carefully examined the transformed soul. While its overall mass hadn’t increased dramatically, its quality had undergone a monumental leap. It had completely transcended the level of a typical living being’s soul, reaching the caliber of a divine soul!

After a closer evaluation of its capacity, Sterl concluded that refining and absorbing it would yield approximately 0.1 units of high-tier soul power.

Taking a deep breath, Sterl felt a complex mix of emotions. Gazing at this enhanced soul, he was both exhilarated and deeply incredulous. Any other deity in his place would likely be questioning their very existence.

Fortunately, he had weathered countless storms in the past and now possessed the evolution-enhancing cheat of a lifetime. After a moment of recovery, Sterl managed to steady himself.

“This is quite the unexpected and pleasant surprise,” he said, a trace of excitement flashing through his voice.

The maternal puppet’s ability to draw power from an unknown dimension and nurture new souls had already exceeded his expectations. But now, it went a step further—it could merge these newly born souls into higher-quality ones!

After doing some quick calculations, Sterl realized that with the maternal puppet operating non-stop, he could harvest 14 units of high-tier soul power per day.

It might not sound like much at first glance, but consider this: refining a divine-tier soul from a deity only produced 10 units of high-tier soul power. In other words, the maternal puppet could generate the equivalent of more than one deity’s worth of soul power every single day! Calling it an inexhaustible treasure trove wasn’t an exaggeration in the slightest.

“If the maternal output increased tenfold, I’d never have to worry about high-tier soul power again,” Sterl mused, his anticipation palpable.

For him, gathering ordinary soul power was no longer a challenge, but obtaining high-tier soul power was a completely different story. The difficulty wasn’t due to his own strength but rather because high-tier soul power could only be extracted from divine-tier souls—souls belonging to deities. But where could he possibly find so many gods to hunt down?

Last time, it had taken a staggering 750 units of high-tier soul power for him to break through his limits and fully awaken the Eerie Eyes of the Soul Prison. Now, if he wanted to attempt a second breakthrough, the required high-tier soul power would at least double.

That meant 1,500 units of high-tier soul power—equivalent to the divine-tier souls of 150 deities or the souls of three upper-divine-authority gods.

To put that into perspective, even in the fabled Orichalcum Realm, it wasn’t guaranteed that 150 deities could be gathered in one place!

However, with the maternal puppet, what once seemed like an unattainable goal suddenly didn’t feel so far away.

“Come on, don’t let me down now!” Sterl murmured under his breath, suppressing the surging emotions within him. Grasping the Soul Devourer Sphere tightly, he connected its power to the maternal puppet and focused his intent.

In an instant, an overwhelming torrent of soul power surged out from the Soul Devourer Sphere, flooding into the core of the maternal puppet’s soul at a rate of thousands of units per second.

A powerful wave of soul backlash struck Sterl’s own soul. However, with his recently enhanced soul strength, handling the impact had become several times easier. He quickly steadied himself and resumed channeling the surging soul power within the Soul Devourer Sphere, continuously infusing it into the maternal puppet.

Although the maternal soul had been refined into a puppet by Sterl, it still retained its most basic instincts. At the very least, it recognized the immense benefits the soul power provided and greedily devoured it.

1,000 units… 10,000 units… 20,000 units…

The vast influx of soul power became sustenance for the maternal puppet. Sterl focused intently, observing every subtle change in the maternal entity.

Before long, he noticed something extraordinary—something that set the maternal puppet apart from other soul puppets. Puppets like the Silver Mantis or Earth Wolf passively absorbed soul power, merely increasing the size of their soul forms. In contrast, the maternal puppet appeared to treat the soul power as food or nutrients, actively processing and utilizing it.

As the maternal puppet consumed the massive influx of soul power, its very soul essence began to grow, albeit at a slow but undeniable rate.

“The maternal puppet can actually absorb ordinary soul power to enhance its soul essence?”

Sterl froze, utterly astonished. This discovery was beyond belief.

It was like turning a heap of mud into hardened steel—two fundamentally different substances being transformed through some unimaginable process. It was truly unnerving.

What made this even more incredible was that the maternal soul essence was already stronger than that of an upper-divine-authority deity!

Of course, due to the vast disparity between ordinary soul power and the maternal puppet’s soul essence, the growth was slow, and the conversion ratio was astonishingly high.

Over a minute passed as Sterl controlled the Soul Devourer Sphere, pouring soul power into the maternal puppet non-stop. With a transfer rate of 1,000 units per second, the maternal puppet had absorbed nearly 100,000 units of soul power in that short span of time.

For context, even 100 units of soul power were enough to significantly enhance someone like Boris and his peers. 100,000 units—that could potentially forcefully elevate a deity to the level of an upper-divine-authority god!

Sterl turned his gaze to the maternal puppet. The once palm-sized entity had now swelled to more than twice its original size. However, aside from its increased size, there seemed to be no other noticeable changes.

This didn’t surprise Sterl. Given how powerful the maternal soul essence already was, it was unrealistic to expect any qualitative transformation from such a limited infusion of soul power.

“Show me your current capabilities,” Sterl said, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. Everything else was secondary; what truly mattered was discovering how much the maternal puppet’s production capacity had improved after absorbing 100,000 units of soul power!

At his command, the maternal puppet immediately began to squirm. The fissure at its tail reopened, resembling a grotesque passage lined with eyes and covered in fine fur, an image so disturbing it sent chills down the spine.

The gestation process was the same as before, taking a full ten minutes. However, this time, the number of souls produced reached an astonishing 300!

“Hahahaha! This must be divine providence!”

Sterl couldn’t hold back his laughter.

He had not expected that an infusion of 100,000 units of soul power would triple the maternal puppet’s production capacity!

With this newfound efficiency, Sterl calculated that he could generate over 400 units of soul power per day. If he refined these into high-quality souls, that would amount to 40 units of high-tier soul power daily!

Even if he did absolutely nothing else, he could acquire more than 1,200 units of high-tier soul power per month. At that rate, it wouldn’t take long to reach his next breakthrough threshold.

The thought filled Sterl with boundless joy. For a moment, even the looming threats posed by those shadowy forces in the background faded from his mind.

What do threats matter? he thought. As long as I am strong enough, all obstacles will dissipate like mist under the sun.

“This has been the best 100,000 soul power investment I could’ve made!”

Sure, he could’ve used that much soul power to enhance his own abilities further. However, channeling it into the maternal puppet had essentially created a self-sustaining treasure trove, capable of generating endless wealth in the form of soul power.

Sterl even felt tempted to pour the rest of his soul power—200,000 units—into the maternal puppet. However, he quickly dismissed the idea. Even if doubling or tripling its production capacity seemed appealing, such an increase wouldn’t immediately translate into combat strength.

What he needed now was sufficient battle-ready power to deal with any potential ambushes or threats on the horizon.

With that, Sterl stored the maternal puppet back into the Purgatory Space, issuing it an ongoing command to produce souls without pause. He then deactivated the Eerie Eyes of the Soul Prison and refocused his attention.

“Goda.”

His voice was calm and composed, betraying none of the excitement that had gripped him moments earlier. Sterl’s expression returned to its usual serene and indifferent demeanor, unmoved by either joy or sorrow.

Hearing her name, Goda, the Goddess of Evil Wasps, immediately approached him with reverence.

“Master, what are your orders?” she asked, her tone steeped in deference.

Although she and the others hadn’t participated in the earlier battle, they had witnessed firsthand the terrifying extent of Sterl’s power. The sight of the Extinction Heavenly Thunder Tribulation had left everyone, including Goda, in awe and fear.

To her, Sterl was an invincible existence—peerless and unmatched.

If I could mate with my master, she thought to herself, what kind of incredible offspring would that produce?

…