The Discarded Son's Skill Market

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With a heavy heart, Zaid checked the time. He had about 20 minutes left before he had to resume his journey.

"If I’m not mistaken, Alice must be somewhere to the south."

He turned toward the south and looked intently in that direction, calculating the route. This place was enormous, so it took him a while to figure it out.

He concluded that it would be best for Valia to try to find them by taking a different route, so she could reach them more quickly. However, if she went alone, she might have to get into unnecessary battles with pesky beasts, which would slow her down. That’s why he decided to keep Valia with him and trust her instincts.

In 20 minutes, he could cover a lot of ground if Valia was with him.

Immediately, he began running through the trees and across the ground. His feet moved as fast as they could. He dodged beasts, arrows, and darts fired by these undead, even passing under some giants who were resting at their leisure, drawing closer to his destination all the faster.

However, at one point he was unable to dodge one of them and had to defend himself.

He was thrown backward by a Level 8 undead creature, a Spear-Wielding Skeleton.

It stood 2 meters tall and was skeletal and gaunt, without a shred of flesh or tendons on its body. It carried a long spear with a sharp tip, though it appeared rusty.

For one of the easiest types of undead to dodge, he’d been quick enough to attack before Zaid could get past him.

He was a pesky bastard.

Zaid didn’t want to waste any time, so he summoned his dagger right away. If he had to change his Talent, he’d do it just to get there faster.

However, he suddenly saw Valia leap in front of him. Although she did not spread her wings—since Zaid had ordered her not to—she still glided toward the Spear-Wielding Skeleton with great speed, and as she landed on it, she attacked it with her claws.

Those two claws struck the spear and sent the Skeleton flying far backward, causing him to drop his spear. She was then able to focus on attacking him directly, killing him in a matter of seconds.

The most surprising thing, however, wasn’t that—it was that Zaid’s system had activated.

[You have killed a Level 8 Skeleton Spearman.]

[You have gained PE and ME...]

He stared in bewilderment at the messages that appeared. A sudden realization swirled through his mind.

"I can gain PE and ME from the beasts killed by my tamed beast..." he whispered in utter shock.

Valia was walking back toward him at that moment, so she heard him whisper.

"Didn’t you know, master? Ever since we formed the blood contract, you and I are practically one and the same in many ways, and this is one of them. Whatever I kill benefits my master."

"I had no idea..." If I’d known, I would have sent her out to hunt beasts a long time ago...

However, Valia dashed his hopes. "Don’t get your hopes up too high, master. As long as you’re this weak, I won’t be able to kill from too far away. I think the closest I can get to you for you to benefit is 100 meters."

Zaid frowned. "100 meters... that’s not very far." He shook his head.

It would easily alert the groups, so he dismissed the idea.

"Shouldn’t I be running, master?" Valia asked suddenly.

Her words were like a bucket of cold water poured over his head. Zaid immediately shook himself and started running again.

With Valia’s help, he didn’t have to get distracted; he’d siMEly send her off to hunt and go on his way. She was quick at her job; as long as she didn’t encounter any special beasts, she had no trouble killing Rank F beasts with ease.

They avoided the Rank E ones, because it was too much of a hassle to kill them...

Soon, they overheard a conversation that made them stop in their tracks.

"Young Master Jackson, you’re back..." The voice sounded deep and strange.

Jackson laughed at those who were looking at him as he stepped out from among the trees and greeted them. "I just went for a walk and ran into some friends. Young Master Luke was among them, so I got a little distracted. I hope I haven’t held you up."

However, he soon noticed that something was wrong.

His coMEanions’ faces were too... strange. Dark, perhaps?

"Did something happen?" he asked cautiously. He scanned the group and, at a glance, noticed something odd. One was missing.

In fact...

He turned to one side; there lay a powerful, dead beast.

All of his allies were injured, except for one: Alice.

Even the Rank D, who had greeted him, was slightly injured. What on earth had happened?

It didn’t take him long to piece things together. A powerful and rare beast. A battle that broke out while they were distracted eating—a casualty who, if he looked to the beast’s right, he’d see lying there...

Someone had died.

Zaid peered out from behind a tree.

"That’s not a wound inflicted by a beast." Zaid looked more closely using his powerful Sense and concluded that, despite all the damage to the body, what had killed the person was a stab wound to the back.

"It must have been done with an assassin’s dagger. A man from that organization or..."

Zaid noticed a change in Jackson’s ePEression. Although it was very slight, for a brief moment he smiled, before his face took on a pained and sad look.

"So that’s what it’s due to."

He didn’t need to know any more.

This was the first of the 20 victims they needed. And he happened to be in Alice’s group.

"What should I do?" Zaid figured that several groups would probably start moving out after lunch; others were surely already on their way.

It wasn’t a good idea for them to see him so far away from his group... he was heading almost in the opposite direction, after all.

But he couldn’t stop Alice from dying. In fact... Why should he let those strange bastards—who were surely performing some kind of ritual—get away with it?

Thanks to his own situation, even though he was in danger, he had an amazing lifeline named Valia and the fact that no one knew how strong he was. That’s why he could convince himself he was safe from this.

However, he couldn’t say the same about his classmates. But then again, he was looked down on in his class—why should he bother saving them?

With that in mind, Zaid made a quick decision. He would write a warning on pieces of paper and toss them to as many groups as he could... if they listened to him, fine. If not, well, there was nothing he could do... right?

"Yeah... there’s nothing I can do anyway."

He immediately put his plan into action. He took out a mask and disguised himself.

"For 10 minutes, I’ll be Gio," he muttered.

He wrote a few short messages and handed them to Valia.

"Go to the groups of students and slip one to each group. Do it quickly. I’ll do the same."

His decision was quick—as quick as the first little note he slipped into Alice’s hands without her noticing.

She frowned when she felt it and opened it...

"It’s Gio. Be careful of your surroundings, and don’t trust your group leader or Jackson."

His message was short and to the point, and it made Alice look around for Zaid with a sense of anticipation.

"Is something wrong, Miss Alice?" Jackson approached her and tried to grab her.

Alice felt a sudden jolt when he tried to grab her, so she quickly stepped back. "No... it’s nothing, Mr. Jackson. I was just feeling sorry about what happened... I didn’t ePEect to see one of my classmates die."

"Oh, that must be why." Jackson nodded and let out a sigh. "I understand, Miss Alice. I feel that way, too. If you’re feeling lonely, don’t hesitate to talk to us," he said, then looked at the other woman in the group.

"You could help her," he said with a smile.

The woman nodded, a strange smile forming on her lips.

"Yes, young sir," she replied in a soft, seductive voice. "Come, Alice. I’ll keep you coMEany in this difficult situation."

Alice felt nothing when she grabbed her. Her trauma wasn’t triggered by women.

-

Ten minutes later, Zaid ran back to his group after leaving some papers with various groups.

However, despite his efforts, he didn’t feel safe, so he didn’t hesitate to send Valia to protect Alice.

That made him feel a little better.

Everyone continued on their hunting ePEedition.

The remaining Rank F and E beasts posed little trouble for the group.

They managed to farm some PE, but the best part was that they got to know each other better with every fight.

Zaid was able to steal more ME, although because of his inner turmoil, the second six hours weren’t as lucrative as the first.

Once there were no more Rank F and E beasts left, everyone was able to take a breather.

"Don’t you think this area is very quiet?" one of the group members asked, and with a smile added, "Have we made it this far because of our strength, leaving the other groups behind?"

"That’s for sure! Leader Joe’s strength is admirable. I’d go so far as to say there aren’t many Rank D fighters capable of rivaling him," another exclaimed.

Joe shook his head. "The fact that you feel that is both a good and a bad sign. Who’s to say that some of our teammates aren’t dead? So stay alert. The dangers in this area are..."

He was about to say "dead"... He was going to say it. But he couldn’t. He had to swallow his words and take a few steps back.

"T-they’re dead!"

Just then...

’Master, this is Valia. We’ve found three groups of dead people...’

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