The Discarded Son's Skill Market
Chapter 39: Cheating

Chapter 39: Cheating

Zaid looked back in surprise, but didn’t ask any questions. He got up, and they continued on their way through the forest.

They killed more goblins, undead, and even a few spiders and birds, though the latter were harder to kill, so they avoided them.

Alice leveled up along the way. Dawn broke the next day as they continued hunting without rest. That’s what a hunt aimed at leveling up looked like.

And that same night, Zaid ended the hunt. For most of the day, Alice had been in a complicated mood, so he asked very few questions.

She leveled up once again. She had reached Level 5, so they returned to the city to turn in the quest.

"Are you going back to the academy?" Alice asked cautiously.

Zaid shook his head. "I want to take on one more quest."

She sighed, her head bowed. "Remember that tomorrow is the test. Professor Robinson said it was the most important one of the first three months, so..."

"All right, thanks for reminding me. I won’t take on a mission that takes too long." He smiled at her.

The two then said goodbye.

Zaid did nothing for the next few minutes.

After 15 minutes, he wandered around the area near the guild. He went into a cell phone store and bought a new one. Then he took off his disguise and returned to the guild as Zaid Zachary.

He registered as a contractor and created a mission through the app, and was given a digital token so he could leave the city once someone accepted his mission.

After waiting for about 15 minutes, he pretended to get tired and left.

A little while later, he returned as Gio. He accepted the mission he himself had created and went to meet with the "Contractor."

’I guess signing up under a pseudonym has its advantages. Although I know this is cheating.’ Zaid hoped they wouldn’t find out.

Once he reached Platinum Rank and Rank D, he wouldn’t need tricks like this. For now, though, he had to make do.

Fortunately, the police didn’t notice anything unusual. So he was able to leave the city.

’I have to level up as soon as possible.’

This time, he didn’t head to the Wasteland Portals area. Instead, he turned north and walked toward the Forest of the Undead, one of the most popular hunting grounds in the surrounding area.

The difference between the Forest of the Undead and the Wasteland Portals area lies in strength and numbers.

In the Forest of the Undead, there are more beasts, and each one is also stronger. In the F-Rank area of the Wasteland Portal Zone, most beasts are between Levels 2 and 5, with very few above that level. In contrast, in the Forest of the Undead, the minimum level for beast of portals is 5, and there are Level 6, 7, and even Level 10 beasts in the same area. Because of this, few people visit this forest.

In any case, you’ll get the same amount of ME and PE whether you kill a small Level 2 goblin or a Level 10 Armored Skeleton. So what’s the point of hunting the strongest ones?

But that’s exactly why there are more beasts in the Forest of the Undead, making it a better hunting ground if you’re strong enough.

The area around the forest was marshy. In fact, to get to the forest, you have to cross a bridge. A stream flows through a marsh beneath the bridge.

"They say that many people who have fallen here never return."

In years past, this place was a beautiful tourist attraction. There was a waterfall, and it was part of a large, wooded zoo—one of the biggest in Toluria. Legend has it that if you stare closely at the swamp beneath the bridge for a long time, you’ll see crocodiles that have turned into zombies and skeletons. And the entire zoo was turned into just that.

The walls that had once formed the old perimeter fence surrounding the zoo were now in ruins; there were bars scattered on the ground, and the wide road that cuts through the entire zoo—the one where they used to take you on a car tour—was barely visible through the overgrown brush.

Zaid stepped on one of the iron bars on the ground and frowned. He could hear the wrought iron creaking, as if it were breaking apart from rust.

’Wrought iron made less than 20 years ago has been corroded to this extent by such low concentrations of corrupt essence in 10 years...’

Zaid felt fortunate to have the Primordial Essence within his body; if it weren’t for it, he would have died just by venturing into these places.

In fact, he was still trying to purify himself of all the essence that had entered him in that forest... that’s how dangerous it was.

At that moment, an undead creature leaped out from a direction that should have been impossible.

’An undead rabbit?’ Zaid raised his hand, grabbed it by the neck, and squeezed, trying to strangle it. However, the rabbit managed to struggle enough to break free from his grip.

Even though it was one of the nearby beasts that had been turned into an undead creature, it still had decent stats. ’It must be the weakest one in the whole area,’ he thought as he looked at the Level 3 displayed above it.

He wanted to move to kill it once and for all, but something stopped him. From a blind spot, there was a sudden movement that he immediately sensed, and he reacted accordingly.

A Level 5 Slash-Faced Swordsman Zombie appeared to save the rabbit and attacked him.

It looked like a typical zombie. Grotesque, practically rotten flesh that somehow clung to the bones. But part of its head was missing, revealing a gaping hole where its brain should have been.

Zaid took two steps back to dodge the zombie and the rabbit; he clenched his fist and struck the rabbit right at head level twice in quick succession.

The rabbit flew backward until it slammed into a tree; it didn’t die, but it gave Zaid enough time to attack the zombie.

He attacked it from below, arching his body to deliver a blow to its lower abdomen. Then he quickly moved behind it and struck it several times in quick succession on the back of the head.

The zombie fell forward; if it had been any other kind of beast, it would have been dazed, but it was an undead creature. They were incapable of becoming dazed.

It rolled across the floor and counterattacked.

’Fighting a beast with 25 stat points in each category is certainly different.’

However, that was precisely why he was here.

He needed to test himself—not just to get stronger.