Chapter 64: Ultimate Thief
This was definitely a surprise for Desther.
He continued to read the following notifications after that.
[ Total number of Blastoad’s killed has reached 100! ]
[ You can no longer gain Free Attributes from Blastoads! ]
[ You can now steal Blastoad’s Skill Fragments! 100 Blastoad Skill Fragments will randomly generate 1 skill from Blastoad! ]
[ Ultimate Thief: Skill Theft(Unlocked)]
’Hmm? This one is actually interesting.’
The moment he saw the new notification, Desther immediately understood some of its underlying meaning.
Honestly, there was merit as well as demerit in these notifications.
The demerit was of course the fact that he could no longer gain Free Attributes from Blastoads, while the merit would be the fact that he would now be able to steal this thing called Skill Fragments instead.
’Will this happen every time I kill 100 monsters of the same type or kind?’
This thought crossed his mind as well. Desther actually liked it if this was just a one-time thing. After all, if he could just continuously farm one monster and increase his attributes through it, it would be the most ideal thing.
Now, if it was as he had guessed, it would mean that the Ultimate Thief talent was now limiting his attribute gains from one monster alone.
Fortunately, it also provided compensation, which were these so-called Skill Fragments.
’If it does happen to every monster I kill in the future, then this would also justify the name of the skill being Ultimate Thief. After all, how could I become an Ultimate Thief if all I could steal are basic attributes?’
Desther was suddenly looking forward to the future, thinking that. It seems that the Ultimate Thief talent itself still has room for improvements as well.
If there was a precedent, there would be a next one as well.
Killing 100 monsters of the same kind would mean unlocking Skill Fragment theft. Then what would happen if he killed another 100 of such a monster? Would another use of Ultimate Thief show itself as well?
Speaking of the talent, Desther took a quick glance at the talent’s description as well as its effects once again.
[ Ultimate Thief(SSS) ]
[ Theft Mark ]
[ Grade: SSS ]
[ Effect: This mark cannot be detected by any entity and can only be dispersed by the talent holder. This mark will not dissipate unless the marked target dies or is eliminated.
Available Mark: 5/5 ]
[ Attribute Theft ]
[ Grade: SSS ]
[ Effect: Cast a {Theft Mark-Attribute Theft} on a designated target and steal 50% of the marked target’s Primary Attribute with the highest value and make it your own. This effect can last for thirty minutes.
If the target marked with the skill is eliminated, 50% of the stolen attribute will be converted to permanent Free Attributes. ]
[ Skill Theft ]
[ Grade: SSS ]
[ Effect: Cast and use {Theft Mark-Skill Theft} on a designated target and steal a random amount of the target’s Skill Fragments once eliminated. Can only work to eligible monsters! ]
Aside from Theft Mark and Attribute Theft, there was now an additional Skill Theft in the talent’s description.
The usage of Skill Theft was pretty straightforward too. But from the looks of it, it also requires some luck before one could gain the so-called Skill Fragments. Unlike the Attribute Theft where it gave a fixed amount of attributes depending on the target’s highest attribute.
Anything that involves RNG was definitely not something that Desther liked. He had never considered himself a lucky person after all.
Done inspecting the new effect, Desther looked forward to seeing the next set of Blastoads, wanting to test the new effect on them.
The Blastoads did not disappoint.
Five of them showed up almost at the same time.
Eager to check what the new effect was all about, Desther hurriedly cast Theft Mark to each of them.
As soon as he did so, Desther immediately realized that he could no longer use Attribute Theft toward them. In his perception, it seemed like he was getting blocked the moment he tried to use the skill.
Now, not only could he not steal Free Attributes from them, debuffing them would no longer even be possible.
Well, considering that he was able to kill 100 of them, it would also seem pretty redundant even if he still relied on the debuff to defeat them. It was just a pity that he could no longer gain Free Attributes from them, though.
Anyway, since Attribute Theft was no longer available, Desther used Skill Theft toward it instead.
The next moment, a set of notifications flashed across his eyes.
[ Target Marked ]
[ Theft Mark: Skill Theft ]
[ If Marked Target is eliminated: Skill Fragment: +1 ]
[ Theft Mark: 4/5 ]
Ignoring this one as it tried to use the water blast on him, Desther turned to look at the other Blastoad and cast the same skill toward it as well.
[ Target Marked ]
[ Theft Mark: Skill Theft ]
[ If Marked Target is eliminated: Skill Fragment: +0.0 ]
[ Theft Mark: 3/5 ]
’So not only is it random, there’s even a chance I won’t get a Skill Fragment even after the target’s elimination?’
Desther swatted the incoming water blast like a buzzing fly with his palm as he used the Skill Theft toward the remaining Blastoad in his line of sight.
From the notification, Desther learned that he would be able to earn 0.5 and then 1, respectively, from the two of them. The remaining one was a dud, just like the second Blastoad he used the skill on earlier.
’It’s better than nothing, I guess,’ he thought, swatting another water blast like nothing.
His current Vitality was now just that high. Attacks like this from Blastoad no longer hurt him, much less cause him pain.
It could be said that against Blastoads, even if he stood there and allowed them to attack, the only damage they would be able to do was to damage his clothes.
The Blastoads jumped in and out of the muddy water as they tried to attack Desther while he was seemingly distracted.
Although none of them were able to hurt him, they could still be commended for their effort.
Once Desther was done experimenting with the new skill, Desther finally took a look at the five buzzing Blastoads around him.
’Alright. Time to die!’