SSS Awakening: I Can Steal Attributes-Chapter 25: Insane Attribute

"Too tight..."

"What?"

"You’re holding my hand too tight," Desther answered as he looked at his left hand held tightly by Lexie.

"Oh, sorry." Lexie hurriedly let go of his hand as she began to survey their surroundings, acting as if nothing had happened.

When entering a Group-type dungeon for the first time, the Awakeners must hold each other to avoid getting separated the moment they teleport inside the dungeon.

Elena and Lexie held their hands, while Lexie held Desther’s left hand. He then held Noah with his right as they entered the dungeon at the same time.

Desther released Noah as he also surveyed their surroundings.

Beside Lexie and Desther, Elena and Noah were kneeling on the ground while rubbing their heads to ease up the nausea that they were feeling.

Unlike before, the nausea that Desther experienced this time was even more manageable.

Since Lexie looked fine, Desther assumed that she might have adapted to it too.

As Elena and Noah were still recovering from their nausea, Desther turned to the side and decided to check the notification made by the World System.

And since there were two Tier 2 Awakened Professionals, there were also two sets of this notification in front of him.

[ Target Marked ]

[ Theft Mark: Attribute Theft ]

[ Strength Attribute: +164 (30 Mins) ]

[ If Marked Target is eliminated: Free Attribute: +82 (Permanent) ]

[ Target Marked ]

[ Theft Mark: Attribute Theft ]

[ Vitality Attribute: +148 (30 Mins) ]

[ If Marked Target is eliminated: Free Attribute: +74 (Permanent) ]

[Theft Mark: 1/5 ]

’These numbers are insane,’ Desther thought to himself as he saw the notifications.

Tier 2 Awakened Professionals were truly a class of their own.

The only pity was that he could not make these attributes permanent. No matter what he does, there is no way he would be able to kill those two at all.

Not that he had considered killing them anyway.

’Anyway... so marking a Tier 2 Professional Awakened actually costs 2 Theft Marks? ’

This was the first time that Desther knew about this.

During the last week that they did not go to school, Desther had actually experimented with his Talent as well as the skill [Magic Bullet].

For example, he knew that once the 30 minutes were up, Desther would not encounter any debuff and would just feel that he had ’returned’ to his usual attributes. At the same time, the Theft Mark would automatically return, and the marked target would get their stolen attributes back.

Another thing he discovered as well was that, when marking multiple targets at the same time and if those targets had Strength as their highest attribute, the stolen Strength attributes from them would not stack. Fortunately, the highest of them all would be the one to be retained.

However, if he cast a Theft Mark, and did not use Attribute Theft on them, the mark would stay for as long as he wanted it to.

He had also experimented with its range before.

Once a target is marked by the Theft Mark, it doesn’t seem to have a range limitation. However, when he activates Attribute Theft on that Theft Mark, the marked target must be visible with his naked eye.

Anyway, Talent’s effects could be upgraded in the future, so Desther just wanted to capitalize on everything that he currently has.

Although he disliked trouble, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to get stronger as well.

As someone who lived outside the shelters, he was clear that the fundamental rule of the world has always been the same old strong prey on weak scenarios.

That rule became even more solid when the dungeons descended and monsters appeared in the world.

Desther muttered ’Status’ under his breath and decided to check his current Profile Status.

[ Profile Status ]

Name: Desther Morales

Race: Human

Age: 17

Class: Tier 0 (Unlock at Tier 1)

Talent: Ultimate Thief(SSS)

Level: 0 (85%) ]

[ Attributes ]

VIT: 8 (148)

STR: 8 (164)

AGI: 7

INT: 8

WIS: 6

[Free Attributes: 24 ]

[ Skills: Theft Mark(SSS), Attribute Theft(SSS), Magic Bullet(C) ]

His Vitality and Strength attribute is now way ahead of his other attributes.

Due to the talent’s effects, Desther was able to adapt to the changes immediately. He also did not feel any sort of dissonance and felt that everything was just normal. He could control his strength just fine.

However, with such a huge disparity with his attributes, Desther knew that the effect would show sooner or later.

Even with a high Strength attribute, with his speed remaining the same, he would find it difficult to land his attacks toward his opponent.

It was fortunate that his Vitality attribute increased too.

He reckoned that if the Vitality did not increase to such a terrifying value as well, he would surely not dare to attack with all his might because of such a high Strength attribute.

If he did so, Desther was afraid that his hands or body would be pulverized by his own strength.

There was no way his basic body would be able to withstand such a force.

Fortunately, he could perfectly control his attributes and at the same time was able to increase his Vitality as well.

This experience also allowed Desther to realize that blindly stealing attributes from high-tier beings would not always be a good thing.

He might be able to steal a Tier 2 Professionals attribute, but would he be able to use them without worrying about anything?

’Well, maybe there is a reason why there are five Theft Mark to begin with. So each mark for each attribute, huh.’

Taking note of this, Desther finally turned to look at his companions and realized that Elena and Noah had already recovered from their nausea.

He looked at Lexie and realized she was looking at him out of the corner of her eyes too.

Lexie hurriedly shifted her eyes and said, "Before we move out, let us plan out our destination as well as our objectives first."

Desther and the other two nodded their heads one after the other.

"We should also secure the perimeter first, maybe there’s a monster lurking nearby, right?" Elena said while looking at Lexie.