The Discarded Son's Skill Market
Chapter 45: Supreme Scavenger

Chapter 45: Supreme Scavenger

This was exactly the problem Zaid had foreseen before the test began. His secret could be exposed.

Because of his younger brothers, practically the whole country found out that the Zachary family’s good-for-nothing son had indeed obtained a talent, but that this talent was so worthless it had no attributes or description.

That’s precisely why, even though many people thought he could make it into the academy, he wouldn’t have a job beyond being the "utility player" on any team. It was surely a surprise to many to learn that his statistical average was so high, but it wasn’t all that unusual.

Cases were documented in other countries of people waking up as "trash," but with relatively high average stats—though without the ability to become stronger.

That was, technically, possible. However... there was an additional problem. His family once checked his average stats, and they weren’t as high as they had been the last time. And that was also revealed to the public by his siblings.

Should he admit that he can level up? That would undoubtedly catch the Zachs’ attention.

From the little he could guess about what had happened when his parents were told he’d been accepted into the academy, surely they believed that, having lost his black blood, he would never be able to level up... That was the logical conclusion, so he couldn’t break that "logic"—which had already been shattered by this fantastical system he’d acquired.

’I’ll have to rely on luck and hope they believe me... Joe isn’t strong enough to kill me, thankfully.’

Zaid shook his head in response. "No, I can’t do that. If I could, I wouldn’t be a cargo man."

Joe nodded, though he wasn’t convinced at all. "However, your average stats this time were higher than what your brothers reported. Was that fake?"

’It was fake.’ That’s what he wanted to say. If life were that easy and his brothers were dead, it would be easily resolved!

Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that.

"That was real."

Joe frowned. He didn’t answer because he knew Zaid understood what his question was.

Zaid sighed and motioned for him to come closer so no one else could hear. "Have you ever heard of Stat Stones?"

Joe blinked twice in confusion, and his eyes suddenly lit up. "Don’t tell me that..."

"I was lucky enough to come across a seriously injured E-Rank beast and managed to kill it. It dropped one for me." At this point, Zaid broke into a smile and looked completely satisfied. "I must have used up all my luck in life right there, because it had over 12 stat points. It was awesome!"

"R-really? Man, you’re incredibly lucky. You’d be one of the luckiest people around if it weren’t for your talent!"

"I think so, too." Zaid laughed, looking slightly embarrassed, and his face even flushed... a good performance.

Joe didn’t pursue the subject any further, which Zaid was grateful for. Having to resort to something like a Stat Stone—one of the hardest things to find, even if you killed millions of E-Rank beasts—was the only way he could think of to avoid revealing that he could level up.

Fortunately, students aren’t asked to prove their statistics until they graduate—otherwise, his lie would be exposed.

’Come to think of it, if we take this lie as true, this would be the tenth time a Stat Stone has appeared from a E-Rank beast in the world.’

Wow, that really was unlikely.

"Since student Zaid can’t level up, we’ll distribute the beasts among the other F-Rankers." Joe had decided to take his word for it. It wasn’t in his best interest to delve into the secrets of someone who had nothing to do with him.

He looked up after grouping them together and saw that several groups were already beginning to head in. "It’s time. We’ll work out the plan as we go in."

-

Zaid, once again, was the cargo man. Actually, he didn’t mind having that position, because he could steal ME from the beasts that were killed—the exact same amount as the one who went out of their way to kill it, no less!

Plus, since he was in charge of carrying supplies and there was such a large crowd around, he could get ME from other groups just by veering off course a little.

It was awesome!

Over the next six hours, he came to understand just how wonderful the world was when seen from the perspective of a Specialist Scavenger.

No, he could surely be dubbed the Supreme Scavenger. In just six hours, he managed to earn ME from 63 beasts.

630 ME! He’d never earned that many in such a short time. It felt so good that he wanted to shout with joy and hop around the forest like a happy rabbit. Seeing his ME go up not only made him happy—it also gave his confidence a huge boost.

With about 300 ME more, he’d have enough stats to add as if he’d leveled up. And if he split them between Strength and Vitality, it would be practically two levels. A huge step forward.

But the best part was that with an additional 800, he could get his first Rank D Talent, if he wanted to. Going for Robinson’s Steel Skin would be a great idea, since it would be a good addition for when he reaches Rank E and can have an additional slot among his active Talents.

Or he could buy John’s... that one was really useful with its fists, too.

Whatever his final decision, this situation worked in his favor.

It was 2:00 p.m. when they stopped to eat.

"We’ve hunted 15 Rank F beasts and 2 Rank E beasts. Over the next 6 hours, we should hunt the remaining beasts in those ranks so we can focus on the Rank D beast," said Joe, taking his role as leader very seriously.

Over the past few hours, everyone had appreciated his presence. Not only was he powerful, but he was also an excellent leader and performed exceptionally well in every aspect of combat.

’Level 21. Level 12. Level 5. Two Level 3s, and me.’ Zaid counted them off one by one. Excluding Rank D and E, he was the strongest.

With his current strength and talents, he might be able to put up a fight against that Rank E, even if he couldn’t win. After all, that opponent has the Rank-up enhancement.

However, if he were to allocate all his ME points to strength and vitality... he might be able to win.

’It feels good not to be the weakest in the group, in a way.’ Zaid joked to himself, even though everyone thought he was the weakest.

He finished eating quickly and stood up. All his teammates were still eating and would be resting for a while, so after putting away his lunchbox, he nodded to them.

"I’m going to take a walk," he told the leader.

Joe had noticed that this guy knew his way around these wooded areas, so he wasn’t worried and simply told him not to be too long, since they had to keep going.

"Don’t go too far in. There are E-Rank beasts around here," he advised.

Zaid thanked him for the advice and plunged into the sea of trees with his little cat on his shoulders.

’That’s exactly what I’m looking for.’ Zaid smiled.

However, he hadn’t gone more than 30 meters when he heard something.

Valia’s little ears twitched, and sensing something, she said: ’There are some powerful people nearby.’

Zaid nodded. "I noticed. And I recognize some of them."

The atmosphere around them was tense, so something important must be happening...