The Discarded Son's Skill Market
Chapter 5: Rising Stats

Chapter 5: Rising Stats

Dawn broke as the sun’s rays struck the leaves of the trees. They filtered through the leaves as if slipping through a crack, illuminating the animals seeking their energy.

At that dawn, a young man covered in mud—but with a strange happiness radiating from his face—moved through the trees at a steady pace while battling an F-Rank bird-type beast.

The bird attacked him from different directions, but its attacks were ineffective. Zaid managed to avoid most of the damage and used makeshift daggers made of wood and sharp rocks to counterattack.

One of his attacks, launched from behind a tree trunk, flew at high speed and struck the bird’s wing.

Zaid smiled slyly and darted out from behind the tree, heading toward the beast.

"Time to die, little one," he whispered softly, and his eyes flashed.

[Dagger Mastery]

He activated his new Talent, and his hands gained astonishing speed and unmatched precision. The knowledge of how to attack flashed through his mind, and he struck ferociously.

Faced with such a brutal blow, the bird fell to the ground, dead.

The system’s notifications soon lit up Zaid’s face, and he simply walked over to retrieve the body of his prey.

’Beast bodies are expensive. Now that I can’t rely on my family, I have to find a way to support myself,’ he muttered as he tossed the beast’s carcass into a makeshift bag made from his shirt.

He had a variety of carcasses inside, waiting to be sold.

The body of that wolf cub that had nearly killed him the night before, and 18 F-Rank beasts, including the bird.

After a night of intense hunting, he had made great progress. Although he had to focus on stealing from the other groups during the first few hours, once he obtained another 100 ME, he immediately purchased "Dagger Mastery," and since then, hunting has been easier and more manageable.

Finally, he looked at the system notifications.

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 2]

[+5 Stat Points across all your stats]

[You have unlocked new features]

Zaid was excited, so he opened his user panel immediately.

[User Panel: Zaid Zachary]

Level 2: 0/200 Primordial Essence.

Monster Essence (ME): 320.

[Stats Window]

| Strength: 15 [+]

| Agility: 11 [+]

| Vitality: 15 [+]

| Intelligence: 15 [+]

[]

’Good. The total is over 50 stat points. Before, they didn’t even reach 30.’ Zaid felt excited, so he kept scrolling down.

[Unique Awakening Ability]

Talent Market: Talent Copy Shop System.

[Soul Talent(s)]

Scavenger: Rank C.

Slot #2: Free.

Slot #3: Free.

-

[Spirit Talent(s)]

Keen Senses: Rank F.

Dagger Mastery: Rank F.

-

[Rotating Talents]

[]

"Reminder: You can remove Talents from your slots to add others using the ’Talent Rotation’ feature. You won’t lose the talents you remove."

[]

’Talent Rotation? It looks like it’s not available because I don’t have any more talents available...’ Zaid opened the option to read its contents.

[Talent Rotation lets you save talents in Virtual Slots so you can assign them to your character at any time.

You have an infinite number of Virtual Slots.

Cooldown: You can swap a single talent every 24 hours.

Level up to reduce the cooldown.]

It was a strategic and highly efficient option. Zaid thought of many ways to use it, but that massive cooling effect made him realize he needed to be careful when using it.

For now, he decided it wasn’t necessary to use it, so he didn’t need any new talents.

’Anyway, the ones I could buy are barely Rank F; the ones currently available are no use to me,’ he thought.

Even though he had 320 ME, he didn’t allocate any stat points or purchase any talents. He needed to save them for any Rank E or D talents he might be able to get.

’I think it’s time to go to the academy. Registration ends in a week. If I don’t get there in time, I’ll miss out.’

He walked back to the city, taking the same route they had dropped him off on so he wouldn’t get lost.

As he entered the city, people started looking at him strangely.

Not because they recognized him, but because he was covered in mud and wounds.

"Who is this crazy guy?"

"He looks so young, but he’s already gone crazy... Sigh. Beasts really can drive people crazy."

"Yeah... ever since those things showed up ten years ago, the number of crazy people hasn’t stopped growing."

"Oh well..." One of them, a store clerk, walked over to Zaid and slipped a few coins into his pants pocket. "It’s up to us to help them. Let’s show some solidarity with what little we have," he said to those who were watching him.

Several people were moved by his gesture and did the same, leaving Zaid completely stunned.

’Huh? What’s going on?’

Before he knew it, Zaid’s pants pocket was full of coins and small bills; many people were looking at him with pity.

’D-do they think I’m crazy?’ Zaid smiled in frustration, lowered his head in embarrassment, and began to walk faster.

To avoid that kind of unwanted attention, he went to a public restroom and took a shower.

He then stopped by the homes of the people who did the Zachary family’s laundry and stole a pair of pants and a shirt.

’Well, it’s not stealing. I’m just claiming what’s rightfully mine,’ he told himself, nodding in agreement.

Then... he counted the money they’d given him earlier.

He wasn’t crazy, but he was poor. He wasn’t going to turn down help from those kind-hearted people.

’Wow, they gave me $103 in such a short time. Not bad—I like that.’ Zaid smiled with satisfaction.

He immediately slipped away to the Association of the Awakened.

It was a skyscraper located in the city center, whose windows were made of solar panels of crystallized mana, which powered not only the entire building but also almost the entire city.

"Welcome, young man. What can I help you with?" asked the receptionist.

"I want to sell these things..." Zaid lifted the makeshift bag and placed it on the table.

"Very well, sir. Are you an Awakened One? May I see your ID?"

Zaid then remembered that his ID card was at his family’s house... Should he go get it?

’No.’ He made up his mind immediately and pressed a button on the table.

It was round and black, with a logo featuring a small flashing blue window.

"I lost mine, but I can do it through the system," he said.

The receptionist nodded and let him do it.

Seconds later, all of Zaid’s information was on the computer before the employee.

The receptionist was surprised to see his client’s first and last name, but he just made a mocking gesture—typical of everyone who looked at him—and went back to work.

He was surprised to find so many Rank F beasts and one Rank E beast in that bag... He wondered if this boy had stolen them, but due to the Association’s policies and the system itself, he didn’t ask the rude question that someone else might have asked.

"Because of the low rank and high damage, I can pay $15 for each Rank F body and $50 for the wolf. And $35 for Rank F mana crystals and $100 for Rank E ones. A thousand in total—does that sound good to you?"

Zaid nodded. "All right," he replied, unfazed.

But inside, he was screaming with joy.

With $1,100, he’ll be able to live in the city for a while and pay the enrollment fee for the academy.

The receptionist proceeded to make the payment in cash and took the beasts’ bodies away.

Once he was back, Zaid spoke to him again.

"I’d like to apply to the Academy of the Awakened. Is there still a chance?" he asked cautiously.

The man stared at him from head to toe. "Do you really want to join the academy, Young Zachary?" His question was sarcastic.

Zaid managed to ignore the sarcasm and nodded. "Yes."

A faint, mocking snort escaped the receptionist’s lips. "The entrance fee is $300, though that doesn’t guarantee you’ll get in. Ideally, your strength needs to be above 10 points to qualify. If you don’t have that, you won’t even be good enough to be a porter."

The receptionist peered over the computer screen with a slight, mocking smile. "Are you going to pay?"

Zaid clenched his teeth. ’You won’t look down on me for long, you bastard.’

He pulled out the $300 and handed it over without batting an eye.

"Of course."

The man wrinkled his nose and reluctantly took the $300. He entered the information into the Association’s system.

"Take this to the academy, and they’ll test you." The man tossed him a token before proceeding to ignore him.

Zaid left the place, hailed a taxi, and immediately headed for the Academy of the Awakened.