The Discarded Son's Skill Market

In a dark room.

Zaid sat up, feeling sore. A headache hit him the moment he opened his eyes, making him frown.

But he stayed in that position for several minutes, sensing danger breathing down his neck. He gathered his thoughts and, after figuring out where it might be, looked from side to side.

"The hotel room?" Zaid stood up after confirming that there was nothing there. "Why do I feel like there’s something far too dangerous near me?"

He looked to his right and saw Valia, drowsy and in pain from her injuries, but she was okay.

He glanced at the clock on the wall.

11:53 PM.

"Still Sunday..." He got up and gave Valia a few nudges to wake her up.

She woke up immediately and went into a defensive stance, but her alarm slowly subsided when she realized there was no immediate danger.

Zaid whispered, "Are we still in town?"

Valia nodded. "At the same hotel... When we left that place, we were close by, so it wasn’t hard for me to get there. The problem is that... there were too many believers all over the city; I couldn’t escape without alerting them."

Zaid figured that was the case, so he nodded impassively.

"Don’t you feel like there’s something dangerous lurking behind you? Something strange."

"I’ve felt it ever since I woke up." She looked around. "What is it?"

"I have no idea..." He walked over to the window to look outside. Then he remembered the tremor he’d felt before losing consciousness.

His body froze. His heart tightened. "When did the tremor stop?" His voice trembled as he asked the question.

Valia shook her head helplessly. "Five minutes later?" She took a guess.

"Five minutes..."

The lump in his throat grew tighter.

It was clearly ruled out as something normal; a five-minute tremor was far beyond anything a normal tremor would be, and it’s not like this place is in an earthquake-prone area, so there was only one possibility left: a momentous event.

With the Goddess’s existence confirmed, Zaid could believe anything. Her descent to Earth, for example, might have caused something like this.

But... He shook his head, trying to ignore Elijah’s words.

Although he failed in his attempt.

Who was he fooling?

His friends were all dead.

"Alice..." His heart burned like a volcano.

He looked at the clock again.

11:59:59.

00:00:01

’Monday at last.’

He never thought a Sunday could be so long, but finally he mustered the courage to look out the window at the city. He stayed hidden behind the curtains.

And he froze in fear...

Thousands upon thousands of people had been kneeling for hours. Now they stood up. Their eyes glowed a crimson red, and he made no distinction between the weak and the strong, so that the transformation within their bodies would be triggered all at once.

A murderous instinct swept through the three villages. All the believers looked at the person standing next to them; once they had been family members, lovers, or close friends, but now they were sworn enemies.

Immediately, a brawl broke out among the crowd. In less than a minute, Zaid watched as one man was dismembered and eaten and another was beheaded.

Thousands of people went mad in an instant, and a savage, accursed clamor rose from the depths of every village. Death became a friend to all of them.

Zaid and Valia watched this in disbelief. They had never seen so many E, D, and C-Rankers fighting on an open battlefield. And not just any fight—a fight to the death.

"What the hell is this?" Zaid muttered.

"..."

They were fighting far from the hotel, concentrated in the main squares and streets. Completely out of control.

It was curious—and quite contradictory—that a religion which professes control, tranquility, peace, and patience as universal principles should now have all its believers going mad and killing one another.

Had a curse fallen upon them because of their misdeeds, or was this simply their natural state?

’They’re beasts—surely this is the natural state of these damned beasts.’ Zaid conjured his two daggers into his hands.

"So many fallen bodies, wounded creatures, and weak beasts before me... I wouldn’t be a beast hunter if I didn’t take advantage of this."

Valia turned to look at him. "Are you planning to attack them?"

"No. I plan to kill them," he replied.

"Wouldn’t it be better to run away?"

"Where to?"

Valia scanned the city, trying to find an escape route now that she had calmed down.

They couldn’t get past the walls—some strange mechanism was protecting them. That meant they’d have to leave through the main gate. The problem was that the main gate was swarming with crazed beasts. How were they supposed to get out, especially since it was closed?

Valia frowned. "We could try flying over the city..."

"That would be a good idea if only there weren’t flying beasts in that damn Rank A dungeon," Zaid sighed. He turned around, and after making sure the hotel was empty, he stepped out into the hallway and then went down to the first floor.

"I know we’re not in good shape and that we’re weak, but if we stay here doing nothing, we might die. Let’s try to break through the front door. When we’re near the wall, let’s try to fly over it."

Valia nodded. "What if something goes wrong?"

"If that’s not possible, then we’ll hide under the rocks until night falls. The city is big; we’ll have plenty of space. At dawn, it won’t be too hard to get out, because the city will open up to newcomers."

"Okay, that’s a good idea."

Zaid downed several potions and gave some to Valia as well. At least he was able to recover a little, and he headed out into the streets.

He began searching for suitable beasts. E-Rank ones first—he needed to level up.

After that, he could go after the D-Rank ones to farm ME; with Valia’s strength, they could hunt many without drawing attention.

His moment of glory had barely begun. For a moment, he almost forgot who he was.

The true Scavenger par excellence, an authentic Divine Scavenger.

And before him lay what any scavenger could most long for in the world: a battlefield teeming with thousands of beasts more powerful than he was.