The Discarded Son's Skill Market
Chapter 11: Token Distribution

Chapter 11: Token Distribution

The corrupt essence is a deadly energy, capable of penetrating the body and eating away at the bones until they rot.

During the first two years, a huge number of Hunters died because they failed to guard against it.

In fact, the entire first generation died from causes directly or indirectly related to it—a story that many of the new generation of hunters, also known as the Third Generation, still do not fully understand.

Moving in large groups usually helps prevent energy from being concentrated in a single body, which naturally helps prevent premature death, since the energy reacts to the heat of the bodies and is distributed equally among them.

That’s why Jackson’s option was better than Zaid’s... even though Zaid kept insisting that, in the end, it would take so long to collect all the tokens that it would end up being exactly the same.

If they were stronger, they would have no trouble controlling these small doses of corrupted essence, but they are weak. They can’t control it. For now, they are defenseless.

It took them about 10 minutes to reach the token they sensed, which was buried between the ground and a tree root.

Jackson ran to grab it.

"Well, this is a real victory! I always knew that was the best idea," one of them exclaimed, and he happily walked over to Jackson to look at the token.

However, Jackson put it away before he got there.

"A small victory is better than nothing. But since there’s only one, let’s avoid distributing it so it doesn’t dampen our morale. Let’s keep looking. In the end, we’ll distribute them based on how useful they’ve been to the group," he suggested.

The one walking toward him stopped short, the words caught in his throat. He just wanted to see it...

Another nodded. "That’s the best idea, Mr. Jackson."

"Haha, you’re right." The more talkative one nodded quickly after getting over that brief moment of embarrassment. "Let’s keep looking! Does anyone remember where the other one was? Even though it’ll send a signal in a few minutes, we should be able to find him before then."

"I remember," Jackson replied confidently. "Just follow me." And he started walking, with all the students following behind him...

The second and third tokens were very close to each other. And then they even found a fourth and fifth token.

That got them excited... but three hours had passed since then.

"Mr. Jackson, I think it’s time to hand out some tokens." The man who talked a lot approached Jackson to say this. "We have to motivate them. They already look downcast. It seems like..."

"I know. You don’t need to go on." Jackson frowned.

Most of the students were wondering if they had made the right choice. Moving as a group of 20 students, they had managed to find only 5 tokens in 3 hours.

They only have 1 hour left... that’s not enough time.

Zaid was already convinced that he shouldn’t have gotten involved with these guys, but going alone wasn’t an option either. That’s why he was frustrated.

’But I’m the one who remembered the locations of two tokens. It’s not that bad for me. However, this girl...’ He glanced back at Alice.

She had been following him for the past few hours, staying close to him and speaking to him from time to time. Although she kept her distance from the other men, she stayed close to him and even helped him remember the location of one of the tokens.

She had to get one for herself.

Suddenly, Jackson stepped forward.

"I think we all underestimated just how vast this forest is. Even though we’ve been searching for three hours, it’s been really difficult. So we should think things through more carefully," Jackson said, pulling out the five tokens.

"We have five tokens. It’s not what we expected, but it’s better than nothing. That’s why I think it’s time to divide them up. Then we can search even more intensely to try to find the rest," he suggested.

Immediately, everyone perked up... but there were only five of them.

Most of them would run out of tokens. And five of them might decide to leave, which would make the search even more difficult.

This didn’t seem like a good time to do that, but some of those who had contributed to the group rushed to take the lead.

But Jackson stopped them. "Believe me, I’ll do this fairly and make sure they don’t leave us alone," he said, looking at everyone.

"However, before handing out these five tokens, I want those who are going to receive them to promise us that they’ll help us get ours. We can’t leave here without a token because we’d fail; but if we left individually, only a few of us would pass. In the end, that doesn’t benefit us when it comes to forming a group later on to go to the dungeons."

"So, even if we have to stay longer than planned, we have to promise that we’ll do it for the good of the group."

Everyone looked at each other.

A promise?

That sounded good...

Many of them felt relieved. If no one left, no one could fail, right? And if they all left at the same time, at least they’d show that they were a team—even if they had to stay for 8 hours.

It was a good idea!

Jackson made them promise, one by one. He promised it, too.

Finally, it was time to hand out the tokens.

"As the leader—and the one who’s been guiding you all to earn these five tokens—I think it’s only fair that I get one, too. Right?" he said, and without even waiting for a response, he took one for himself.

Some agreed.

Others looked at him with hostility. Listening to him was what had led them to have to promise all sorts of nonsense... They didn’t have much respect for him at that moment either, but they didn’t say anything.

"Someone else who’s also done a lot for us is William." He pointed to the person standing next to him, the chatterbox of the group.

Many of them liked him, and he’s right to say it was quite useful. Besides, with his charisma, he’d already won them over, so he received the token without further ado.

At that point, he paused.

The answer almost seemed obvious. The next three...

"Oliver, Lucas, and Jack have done a lot for the group. Not only did they help with the search, but they were also key in teaching us how to navigate the woods. They deserve it," Jackson said, and without waiting for any reaction, he handed them to those three, leaving most of the group perplexed.

"Wait!" John clenched his fists and took a step forward. "You bastard, do you think any of those three did more than my group? We’re the protectors!" he roared.

Jackson nodded at him. "Mr. John, you’re protectors, but let’s be honest—you haven’t done much for the group. We haven’t faced..."

"Bastard." John stepped in front of him and faced him. "Say that again. Who hasn’t done more than enough for the group?"

Jackson frowned.

The four he had chosen stepped forward.

Among them, Lucas spoke up: "Wait, Mr. John. We understand there may be conflicts, but don’t get upset. The Tokens were distributed this way because we’ll be traveling together for quite a while longer anyway..."

John interrupted him. "The Tokens should be distributed based on usefulness. And you guys... you’ve only been useful for talking and spouting nonsense. Do you think you deserve them more than I do?"

Lucas swallowed hard for a moment, but then smiled slyly. "Do you think you deserve it more than Zaid?" he asked quietly, so that only John could hear.

John frowned and looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Don’t fool yourself. Everyone else knows that Zaid and that girl Alice deserve one. But giving them to the two least sincere people is a death sentence for us. That’s why we decided to distribute them this way. But don’t worry, Mr. John. In the end, you’re the ones who will receive this token. For now, I want you to help us secure your approval." He whispered even more quietly.

To outsiders, it looked like they were just staring at each other.

Finally, John took a deep breath and stepped back. "You’re right," he said, patting him on the shoulder. "I got carried away, but we’re all on the same team, right?"

Jackson then spoke up. "Of course, Mr. John! We’ll all get one anyway."

"I think the assignment is fine," John said, looking at the other students. "Does anyone else have anything to say?" he asked.