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

Thus, Gloria, as a deity and possessing greater power than Sterl, still shared some of her potential, enhancing her talents. However, it remained extremely difficult for Sterl to plant the highest-level imprint on those around him.

The most cost-effective way was to lure the Ancient One from the Place of the Stars into planting a Followers imprint, and then Sterl could intercept it; that would save him a lot of trouble. Of course, he also needed to prepare some resources for those around him to ensure they could escape when facing the Ancient One, rather than getting fully marked, which would put Sterl in a tight spot in the short term.

If he successfully acquired a weakened version of [Followers of the Stars], then after consuming a day's worth of points, Sterl could complete his top-tier imprint...

However, the difficulty in creating the highest-level Followers imprint did not mean Sterl's abilities were rendered useless. On the contrary, if he wanted to temporarily control a batch of subordinates, the low-level imprint he could impose required almost no energy; instead, it would siphon off the life force of those marked, providing Sterl with sustained health restoration and energy recovery.

Moreover, planting the low-level imprint was quite convenient—once Sterl engaged in combat with an enemy, he could successfully send the imprint. If the opponent could not resist, they were as good as dead.

Of course, against opponents of equal rank, the imprint would not take effect and could only be used to bully weaker foes. At the very least, he had picked up a decent control skill for free.

"Not bad." Sterl felt pleased.

The bloodline of the Ancient One needed the cheat to evolve to another stage before he could allocate points; he glanced at it a few times before shutting down the system panel. Yet, he still had some doubts about why his bloodline displayed a "Modified" label. Was it because he particularly did not want to be associated with those Ancient Ones, leading the cheat to twist the manifestation of this bloodline?

Sterl looked at his body; he hadn't grown any tentacles or slime due to the addition of this new bloodline...

At this moment, he had been offline for 18 days. This was the longest he had been since entering [Transcendence]. Unfortunately, the time acceleration field had not ended, and Sosia and the others had not managed to find the items needed to log back in.

Sterl could only continue allocating points for now. He upgraded all the guild materials, meeting the requirements to elevate the guild to level 7. Furthermore, he had also obtained a set of SSS-level guild materials.

Sadly, he could not log into the game for the time being, preventing him from further upgrading the guild and obtaining buffs. It was fortunate that Sterl was accustomed to storing precious materials in his small world; otherwise, he would have been unable to allocate points for these materials while outside the game.

After enhancing the guild materials, Sterl had not yet had the chance to wait for the next cheat cooldown when he discovered that the barrier indicating changes in time flow had ended during his routine check to see if he could log back into the game!

Simultaneously, it seemed that Sterl's game account had been stuck in a strange time field due to his offline position, causing the game pod core's integration with the code to remain stuck at 99.9%.

At this moment, Sterl sensed that both progress bars had finally reached 100%. The two codes transformed into shining shadows, finally shattering apart!

The golden and silver strands intertwined, forming flesh and blood with a leathery texture, which were once again absorbed into the sphere. Sterl's disk tattoo rapidly changed, and the game pod core section transformed into a pristine jade stone.

The disk's other facets no longer displayed the images of [Transcendence] or Swallowing Heaven. Instead, there were two portraits of Sterl. One depicted his larger form—a spirited young man wearing a robe that billowed dramatically in the wind. The other showed his smaller form, Mephistopheles—a handsome youth bearing a wicked smile, standing atop countless corpses as if a demon lord had arrived!

Sterl couldn't afford to admire the scenery on the disk at the moment. He swiftly called over Rosalie nearby and informed her that he needed to log into the game first. He instructed her to contact him through Sosia or Sonis if anything came up.

After saying this, Sterl thought for a moment. Since he had already revealed the power of ascension to godhood, he decided not to hide it any longer.

"Rosalie."

"You don't have to hide anymore."

"Regarding your mother, I will handle it when I return to the Hall of Valor."

"Now, if you want to join me in the game world, that's fine, but the enemies I face are quite strong, and there's a chance you could fall."

At his words, Rosalie's eyes sparkled with interest.

It wasn't because Sterl would resolve her mother's situation. Rosalie had never been anxious about that; her master's cautious nature assured her that a god with whom they had enmity would definitely be slain.

The demigod girl was thinking—

I can spend time with my master!?

Rosalie felt elated; this was the greatest advantage of being the incarnation of the Illuminated King! While others could only watch from a distance as Sterl moved further away, she could always stay close to her master!

However...

"There is still an important plan about to be fulfilled…"

"Going into the game world, I don't know when I will return."

Rosalie pondered for a few seconds. Recently, she had been desperately trying to get closer to the Dark Moon Goddess, and through subtle probing, she had nearly dismantled the other party's defenses; she was just one step away from success.

Unlike the maids Gloria had brought, the Dark Moon Goddess was extraordinarily noble and had maintained her purity and single status; she would undoubtedly make the perfect gift for her master.

Moreover, Linna and Rayna, the two Mistresses, had mentioned that her master's birthday was approaching.

Leaving now… wouldn't be a good idea!

Rosalie smiled sweetly. "Master, go ahead and take care of your business."

"When you log off next time, I promise I'll have a surprise for you!"

"A surprise?"

"Just do your best."

Sterl felt that Rosalie's thoughts were a bit scattered, but when it came to getting things done, she was very reliable. Since she mentioned a surprise, it was most likely going to be a genuine surprise.

With that in mind, Sterl felt reassured as he retreated into his room. He took out an original model game pod, through which he could directly enter the game using the tattoo on his body.

However, to maintain his disguise, Sterl had to change into a specially designed outfit before stepping into the thick, viscous nutrient liquid...

Then, he silently pressed his hand against the tattoo, entering the game...

The tattoo connected with the three original model game pods it had consumed, as well as with the game pod he currently occupied, initiating the process together.

With a whoosh!

The light gradually faded.

Sterl found himself standing in a city. Everything around him moved at a very slow speed, as he had activated the time acceleration effect the moment he logged in.

To Sterl, the world seemed to be playing in slow motion.

His eyes shifted as he quickly disguised himself as a worker in work attire, blending rapidly into the crowd. He also seized an unconscious worker, pulling him into his small world.

Under the influence of time acceleration, the unfortunate worker had no awareness of what was happening before he dissolved into nothingness. The other workers remained oblivious to the fact that their colleague had been swapped out.

Then, Sterl activated his abilities, lifting dozens of massive stones and began stacking them to create a room. These stones carried an incredibly terrifying gravitational force, making them difficult to move, while legendary demigod players around him were working as laborers.

"This is a good find," Sterl noted as he sensed the structural properties of the stones, discovering they had exceptional spatial adaptability. Buildings made from these stones could significantly expand living space.

"Alright, I guess I'll get to work then. But where were these stones mined from? I should grab some to take back for developing my base."

Although Sterl didn't know how to construct buildings, his powerful attributes granted him a keen learning ability, allowing him to imitate the work of those around him.

Indeed, he was in the royal city of the Orichalcum Kingdom, where he had logged off earlier. This area had been thoroughly destroyed by the Frost Giants and was now undergoing a vigorous reconstruction.

As for why no one had attempted to intercept Sterl upon his re-entry, it was because normal players didn't think of logging off as a means to evade enemies. In combat, you simply couldn't log out!

The people of the Orichalcum Kingdom believed that the deity from Alpha 8 had completed their provocation and had directly used an item to escape.

Sterl, however, knew he needed to disguise himself because there were many sealed magical arrays within the royal city, making it very difficult for him to break out directly. He could see the areas of forbidden flight and the multiple seals forming the Heavenly Curtain above, and it was best to leave through the city gates in a proper manner.

With the bloodline of the Ancient One, Sterl's disguise would not be seen through. The cost-effectiveness of breaking out was too low.

So, Sterl carried on, undistracted, moving the massive stones for a full ten hours.

By the time night fell, the workers gradually received their "rewards" and began to disperse.

Sterl observed that not everyone went to collect their rewards; it seemed that the resources obtained as construction workers could be claimed daily or collected in bulk every few days.

He blended in with the other workers and took the opportunity to leave.

Following the direction the workers were heading, he estimated that he could follow a few legendary players to a small tavern on the edge of the city.

Having visited Giant City for the first time, Sterl had roughly memorized the layout of the city.

So, from the workers' destination, he chose a point closest to the city wall and followed along. This way, he could maximize his chances of getting close to the city wall without raising suspicion, waiting for the right moment to escape.

However, sitting in the small tavern, Sterl felt a bit helpless.

He pretended to look at the menu, not paying right away.

As he did so, he discovered that the trading system in Giant City only supported one method of identity coding interaction. He noticed that the patrons in the tavern exchanged resources by touching their identity codes to that of the tavern owner.

"Good thing I observed this," he thought. "Otherwise, if I pulled out purple coins to pay, I would probably be caught on the spot."

Not having an identity code didn't faze Sterl. This tavern was somewhat off the beaten path, and the quality of food was lacking; there wasn't even a demigod-level individual nearby.

Sterl could operate boldly...