The Discarded Son's Skill Market
Chapter 9: Idiots

Chapter 9: Idiots

Zaid saw the exchange, but since nothing happened, he turned his attention back to John.

"Messiness in the classrooms results in a deduction of several points at the end of the year," Zaid said. "I hope you’ll be a good student and pick up what you threw."

John’s eyebrows shot up even higher when he saw him trying to walk away. He raised his hand and grabbed him by the shirt.

"Even though the booth is mine now, you have to clear that table. Right now!" he declared.

Zaid frowned and raised his hand to grab John’s forearm. "Let go of my shirt."

John suddenly smiled savagely, and his right hand shot out like an arrow, aiming for Zaid’s face.

BOOM!

A clash of fists erupted as Zaid’s fist and John’s fist collided.

John was suddenly pushed back several steps, while Zaid only took a single step back.

Everyone was baffled by this exchange...

"Did Zaid beat John? W-what on earth am I seeing?" someone asked, bewildered.

Zaid snorted derisively. "I think you’re forgetting what kind of hunter you are, you idiot. How do you expect to beat me in a battle of strength?"

Thud!

The table John had been leaning on had a dent in it where his fist had slammed into it.

He had forgotten... Zaid had illuminated the entire rock with his Strength. And he had barely managed a line, and they weren’t all that far apart on average.

He felt deeply ashamed, though there was no turning back. The emotional damage had already been done.

"Grab her and take her to the Young Master. I’ll handle the rest," he said, swallowing his anger.

His friends rushed forward to surround Alice. She tried to defend herself with her magic, but then she remembered the rules...

Using magic in the classroom without the teacher’s permission results in severe punishment.

That made her hesitate just long enough for the bullies to grab her and start dragging her away.

Caught off guard, she lost her balance.

"Ah!" She cried out in pain and tried to grab hold of something, but couldn’t get a grip on anything.

As she passed by Zaid, she looked at him with a sense of desperation... She knew where they were taking her, and she really didn’t want to go.

But was there anything she could do?

Zaid watched this with a frown. His right leg moved, and he quickly stepped in front of one of John’s thug friends. The man stumbled and fell toward one of the tables, slamming his face into it.

The one heading in the other direction also lost control when his friend fell before him, and the two became entangled, falling on top of each other.

"You bastard, how dare you?!" one of them roared, clutching his nose to endure the pain.

Zaid shrugged. "The teacher gave us 15 minutes to get from here to the forest at the southern end. Of those 15 minutes, 3 have passed," he said, glancing at his watch.

"Do you really want to fail?" he said in a mocking tone. "Do you want me to remind you of the rules?"

"Rules?" John stepped forward and tried to grab Alice himself. "What rules?" he scoffed.

The Shawn family doesn’t follow rules. And even though they aren’t part of the family, their master is...

"Hehe." Zaid raised his hand and pointed upward, toward one end of the classroom. "Are you really going to ask what rules?"

John frowned and looked over there. A small black device was glowing, pointing right at them...

A security camera.

Neither John nor his friends had expected it to be there. In fact, all the students were surprised—they hadn’t noticed it.

But then, suddenly...

"South Forest?" someone suddenly muttered. His body trembled.

Shit...

"The Academy’s South Forest is more than a 15-minute walk away—we have to run!"

Everyone was confident because it was just a matter of moving to a different location, but when Zaid reminded them that it was a 15-minute walk and pointed out where they were, it made everyone realize they were in trouble.

This was a test, not a stroll through the park!

The commotion started immediately.

Ignoring the stupid fight between Zaid, John, and their friends, everyone ran toward the doors.

John looked at "his mission" and nodded slightly. "Fine... You’ve won this time," he said as he ran backward, but he shot Zaid a menacing glance before heading for the door.

However, it was locked from the outside.

They tried to force the door open and started shouting curses at the teacher when they realized that even this was a test for them.

Zaid stood there speechless as he watched this.

"I mean... What are the windows for? Where did that little bit of theory Robinson just taught you go?" He kept a straight face as he muttered those words.

Words that only Alice heard.

He gave her a hand. "You should be careful. Luke Shawn is a strange guy—when he gets obsessed with a woman, he goes crazy," he told her.

After that, he turned around, jumped out the window, and left.

Alice was the only one who saw that.

She herself understood Zaid’s reasoning. Just a few minutes ago, Robinson had taught them that the "obvious" solution wasn’t always the best way out of a situation.

Besides, they were on the first floor, for heaven’s sake! If the goal was to get out, why even think about the door?

As he stepped onto the lawn, Zaid shook his head. ’I think I ended up with some pretty dumb teammates.’

Zaid immediately started running.

"Wait!" Suddenly, a gentle voice stopped him, and Alice nimbly landed beside him. "Let’s go together. I don’t know where that forest is," she said with an almost pleading smile.

Zaid stopped. "All right,"

Though inside, he thought that at least she was using her head.

They both started running south from the academy, toward the innermost parts of the grounds.

Less than 10 minutes later, they reached the area. They were sweaty, but they didn’t take the time to rest. They immediately began to venture deeper in.

Alice looked at the enormous logs and towering trees in awe. "I never imagined there would be such a large forest inside the academy."

The roots were so big that they had to jump over them.

"Actually, there are two. One in the north and this one." Said Zaid, who was also surprised by how imposing this place was. "I heard that these two forests used to be Portals."

"R-really? Are there beasts here?"

"There aren’t any." A voice suddenly interrupted them. Robinson was sitting on one of the tree branches. "What about the others? I didn’t expect to see the face of some good-for-nothing show up first."

Zaid raised his eyebrows in annoyance and didn’t answer.

"T-they were trying to leave the room," Alice replied, noticing the tense exchange between the two of them. She hoped her soft voice would calm things down.

And it did. Robinson softened a little. "What idiots."