SSS Awakening: I Can Steal Attributes

An old man with a small stature looked at Desther with a smile as he extended his hands toward him.

"The name’s Arisol, by the way."

Desther observed the man right beside him.

The man has a stocky build but with a small height, reaching only Desther’s chest. He has a full beard and long brown hair that is tied right behind his nape. Wearing a black and white tuxedo suit, the man that called himself Arisol looked like a burly businessman searching for his next confidant.

Desther did not extend his hand right away.

This man had appeared right beside him without him realizing. He may also look small and old; Desther actually felt threatened just by standing right beside him.

Desther had never doubted his senses.

If it told him that a thing was dangerous, then it probably was, without a doubt, a dangerous thing.

Seeing that the old man called Arisol seemed to pose no malice toward him, Desther reluctantly extended his hand for a handshake.

"Desther..." he said, introducing himself simply.

The old man Arisol nodded his head with a smile and said, "I don’t think this is the best place to talk, Desther. Care to go for a walk with me?"

Desther weighed his pros and cons after hearing the man’s request. After thinking for a moment, he thought that it would be too dangerous to go along with him.

He did not know this old man that had seemingly popped out of nowhere. He felt threatened toward him, and Desther would prefer distancing himself away from him.

"I am actually busy at the moment, so maybe next time," he said, preparing to turn around and get out of the situation as soon as possible.

"Well, you can definitely decline. But I just want to remind you that this involves the government..." the man stated, his voice still calm and collected. It was as if Desther’s action did not offend him at all.

Hearing the word ’government,’ Desther stopped in his tracks as well.

The word ’government’ alone sounds troublesome enough for Desther.

Even if he chose to ignore it now, he knew that it would come to bite him back sooner or later.

Perhaps, knowing this fact, the old man did not seem to be in a hurry to talk to Desther either.

"There is a table over there," he sighed, and ultimately led the old man toward an empty table in the distance.

Due to the dungeon collapse, that spot was empty as of this moment.

Since it involved the government, Desther guessed that they might talk about something confidential, hence deciding to lead the old man to an empty space.

"To be honest, when they said that there was someone who survived that place in Visayas, I did not truly believe it." The old man started as he sat down on the bench right beside the empty table.

Hearing the familiar word, Desther visibly paused for a second.

Desther was from a place called the Philippines before the Apocalypse. At that time, the Philippines were divided into three main island groups, mainly Luzon, in the north; Visayas, in the center; and Mindanao, along the southern part of the Philippine Archipelago.

At the start of the apocalypse, the Philippines was also severely affected.

It was to the point that it was publicly believed that the two main island groups, Visayas and Mindanao, were erased in the map due to those places now being packed with powerful monsters that came out of the dungeon.

Originally from the Visayas, Desther was a live witness to how hellish that place was.

After he was ’saved’ by the government, he was brought to the southern part of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range situated in the only livable main island group in the Philippines—Luzon.

Hearing the man mention his place of origin, Desther no longer had a doubt that he was indeed from the government.

After all, he knew that only the government was the one that knew his place of origin.

"I just got lucky," Desther replied, maintaining a calm and controlled voice.

The old man, Arisol, shrugged his shoulders.

"The others thought so as well. But I beg to differ. Especially now that I have met you in person. I am even more positive of my guess that it was not all luck that you managed to survive Metro Cebu. Right, Metro Cebu is also now called Metro of Hell by the government. The amount of monsters in there right now is staggering. Even I myself would not dare to go there without proper preparation."

"Anyway, I basically came here to inform you of some things and also to extend an invitation."

"Before that, though, let me reintroduce myself properly. I am Arisol Cortez, Major General of the New Philippine Army. Nice to meet you, Desther Morales." Major General Cortez extended his hand once more; this time it was more like an official asking for a proper handshake instead of just an old man meeting a young man in the street.

Desther extended his hand, his brain screaming like crazy as he looked at the short Major Cortez in front of him.

’Fuck! A Major General? What does a figure like this want with me?’

"Nice to meet you, Sir," Desther stated respectfully.

Since the start of the apocalypse, Desther knew and heard that the military had been reshuffled multiple times.

Long gone were the days that the force became a joke and meme in the Philippine online community.

As of this moment, all the military personnel were each a force of their own. To be able to survive the front line, the remaining army would surely be the best of the best.

Although the government was not a good place, Desther’s respect for these courageous military men was not unfounded.

"Oh, skip the formalities. You can just call me Arisol, or even Grandpa is fine. I’m already 74 anyway, hahaha," Major General Cortez laughed heartily as he let go of Desther’s hand.

"Right. Let us get to business right away. Desther, we have received notice from the Professional Alliance that you have already successfully awakened."

Hearing that, a slight frown formed on Desther’s brows.

Seemingly guessing what he was thinking, Arisol Cortez immediately added.

"Do not worry. The government is not monitoring your every movement. These are just reports received in the central command to specific individuals like you that require special attention."

"As agreed, the government will stop providing you with a monthly allowance as well as lodging. Your monthly allowance will stop the exact moment you receive your Professional Badge, which should be by tomorrow. As for lodging, the government will have to give you an extra week to find a place to transfer."

Desther nodded his head upon hearing that. He was already aware of it three years ago, so he definitely understood all of it.

He didn’t say too much about this limitation either. He knew that aside from him, there were actually daily casualties around the city. Orphans like him were as common as cabbages, and all the orphanages were usually already at full capacity.

The lodging that he was using would be given to those in need the moment he found a new home to stay, so Desther did not think to complain about it.

"This is basically the main content of what I came here for. In truth, I am not supposed to be the one to inform you about this, but there was a last-minute change, and I am the only available personnel nearby."

Desther also thought that it was too strange for a man with such a rank to come all the way here just to inform him about such a trivial thing.

Hearing his words, it was easy to tell that he had even more things to say toward Desther.

"Anyway, we are getting side-tracked. The second reason why I came here is actually because of the recent dungeon mutation incident."

"You should be aware of it since you are part of that class, right?"

Desther nodded his head, not denying anything.

"In regard to that, studies and research have actually been made regarding that mutation event. As of this moment, we already have some preliminary guesses, but no concrete evidence is found yet."

"Starting today, though, all that wants to awaken will be monitored extensively, and until sufficient evidence is found, it would not be announced to the general public to avoid any form of panic."

Hearing that, Desther could not help but recall the topic he saw on Professional Tube last night.

It seemed like Joechicken was not the only one thinking in that same direction.

’Are they suspecting that I am the one that awakened a high-grade talent? This is going to be troublesome...’ Desther thought to himself as he listened to what Arisol would say next.

"Well, that’s it. Just informing you about it, hahaha" Major General Cortez stated lightly with a laugh.

Desther stared at the short old man strangely. The way he phrased his words seemed like he was trying to inform Desther of another thing, aside from the one he just said.

He was not someone that could not understand basic hints either.

From the looks of it, Arisol was trying to warn him in advance in regard to that research.

It looked like Arisol wholeheartedly believed that he was indeed the person that caused that dungeon mutation.

"Alright, lastly, it would be the invitation that I talked about. This is actually a personal invitation of mine and has nothing to do with the government."

"Basically, I see potential in you and want you to join the army. If you accept, you will naturally receive a lot of benefits. Just say anything you want, and we can search for ways to make it happen."

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A/N: Only 1 chap for now guys, got a lil busy plotting.