Alpha Zero (Alpha LitRPG Book 1) by Arthur Stone (top 5 books to read TXT) 📕

down with what was left of our anchor rope. Beko looked around. “This is not dry land. As soon as it rains somewhere upriver, we’ll be swept away. We have to get ashore somehow.”

I shook my head. “The current is too strong here for us to row against it. Besides, look that way. The cliffs just continue. We’ll never have the strength to get far enough, rowing against the current. And it is too deep there for the poles to be of use. We cannot return upriver. I see no way for us to survive but to cross the rapids of the shelf.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

“I want us to be ready. To that end, I have an important question for you.”

“Which is?”

“I know it’s not polite to ask about your ORDER parameters. But I have to know what you’re capable of, Beko. If I do, I might be able to help you become stronger. We will need to be strong in order to get across the shelf. So, tell me everything about you. Attribute, talents, degrees, all of it.

* * *

I could have guessed that Beko was far from an alpha. But I would not have been able to tell anything more. In order to discern information about a character’s ORDER parameters, you needed special talents of observation. Unless your Degree of Enlightenment exceeded the degree of the target by orders of magnitude. In both cases, you would still be unlikely to access more than a partial set of numbers.

The ghoul didn’t even ask why I needed his information. His trust in me was nearly absolute. After all, I had not just treated him as an equal, I had provided the poor boy with a life more fulfilling than he had ever dreamed of. By this point, what I said, he did.

He was level four. In other words, using ORDER parlance, he had reached the Fourth Degree of Enlightenment. In infancy and early childhood, his mother had made sure that he developed all three of the attributes which common people could access. She had chosen a different focus for the first and second degrees. Apparently, she had been trying to achieve roughly uniform development for her boy. In addition, she had fed him the commonly available spices. Each attribute had absorbed between 20 and 30 units of energy, which was quite good for the average person.

The third degree, however, was a mess. Beko had developed all six attributes there—but each had received fewer than 15 units. It was these that made you stronger, smarter, and possessing of more stamina. He had accumulated a decent number of attribute levels, but there was little point to it when he did not use them to unlock high-level skills.

Beko had just begun developing his fourth degree, and so far had only scored one Stamina level. Strength and Agility were still in progress. Despite my position at degree zero, I was noticeably superior to the ghoul in absolute terms, as far as these three core attributes were concerned. Only in attribute levels was I inferior, and that currently mattered little to me. I really am a freak, I thought to myself.

Beko’s talents were terrible. He had pumped Herbalism from level 0 to level 2 three times, choosing different branches each time. I knew why. It was so he would not starve during the non-work season. But in our current situation, the ability to pick and prepare healthy plants was unlikely to be very helpful.

Hand-to-Hand Combat was in the same boat. As was Carpentry. Romris had been a scoundrel, yes—but he had made the raft well. It did not need any repairs yet. The level 3 Trapmaster talent surprised me—I had not expected to encounter a hunting talent in Beko’s book of tricks, much less a highly-developed one. But right now, it was just as useless as everything else.

For the hellish night during which we had managed to escape from the sandbar with ourselves and our raft intact, to survive the arrows of the infamous archer, and to blindly paddle as we tried to find a shore, the ORDER had awarded me 7 personal talent marks for the Boatman talent. I was not about to protest that I should have received Raftman marks, instead.

The talent’s name and description made it clear that it would greatly improve my ability to work with small watercraft. This was, in the current situation, a very valuable upgrade. Sadly, starting talents could not be transferred to another person. You had to kick off a new talent with a trophy you had received from the ORDER—not one you had traded for. Marks would work, but only after you used a starting mark you yourself had obtained.

Thankfully, Beko had also received one such mark. I immediately ordered him to activate it, and then gave the ghoul 100 lesser chi symbols and 4 greater universal talent marks. “Here, take these. This will be enough for you to maximize that talent on level one. And here’s the same amount again. Activate your fishing talent and develop it just as much.”

Beko’s face was indescribable. “Ged, where did you get all of this? This is a fortune! How?”

I winked mysteriously. “I am able to quickly win a large number of drops from the ORDER. Now, let’s get some rest, but not for too long. We’ll be spending all day here. And probably all day tomorrow. This place is full of kotes, and I’ve been seeing a lot of garpike splashes. We’ll feed you a bunch of caviar and boost your talents and attributes. When we leave here, you’ll be at degree five. I think we’ll be able to get you at least 30 attribute levels, too. Garpike spices are valued for more than their taste, you know.”

“We could sell them,” Beko said in avaricious regret. “And I could eat kote brains instead. And liver. Those aren’t