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

I chuckled and gestured to the surrounding area. “Where’s the nearest merchant, then? Does your ghoul vision let you see one that I cannot? Who do we sell our catch to, then? That’s right—there’s no one here. Everything we caught yesterday will have to be thrown away as soon as it starts to go bad. The only reason for us to catch new fish today is to get the drops. We will have plenty to eat.”

“Two days isn’t a long time to boost your parameters,” Beko noted.

“It is with me. We’ll bring our boating talents up to a fully-developed level 2 or even 3. Maybe we can even start a second branch. We’ll see what’s on offer then. Also, we’ll increase your attributes. Then, we head for the shelf.”

“We won’t have time,” the ghoul continued with his doubts. “We’ll need so much chi and so many marks...”

“We have enough of both. Trust me.”

Chapter 35 Water, Water Everywhere

Degrees of Enlightenment: 0 (449/888)

Shadow: 449

Attributes:

Stamina: level 7, 350 points

Strength: level 4, 200 points

Agility: level 5, 250 points

Perception: level 3, 150 points

Spirit: level 2, 100 points

Energy:

Warrior Energy: 150 points

Mage Energy: 100 points

Talents:

Extreme Boatman (tier 3): 10/10

Fishing Connoisseur (tier 3): 10/10

Cure Wounds (tier 3): 10/10

Throwing Knives (tier 3): 10/10

Free Talents:

Spinning Rod Master (tier 3): 10/10

States:

Equilibrium (15.21): level 15

Enhanced Enlightenment (0.50): level 0

Shadow of Chi (0.50): level 0

Measure of Order (3.00): level 3

Everything worked out just as I had predicted. We fished all day, slept, and gobbled up the invaluable caviar from the garpikes, in addition to the spices from the kotes. Variety was a good thing, for our purposes.

The next day, we repeated the same. Instead of further improving talents, though, I moved to attributes. Beko’s, of course. I could not develop my own any further. I had 21 attribute levels now. That was my original limit of 6, plus my 15 Equilibrium. I had no way to push these further, so I had to accept the impossibility for now.

I would not be able to obtain enough chi within such a short time. That first day, Beko boosted his spinning rod talent as much as he could. I myself reached tier 3 Boatman. That talent was excellent for navigating extreme conditions. Which was what we were preparing to do.

I also took Melee Weaponry up to level 3, selecting the Throwing Knives specialization as I did. Beko pumped the Crossbow talent to level 3, as well. Even the grittiest bandits feared to brave this stretch of the river. I wanted us to be ready for anything. If we ended up in melee, we would almost certainly be disabled or killed. Keeping our distance would be the optimal option. So, we focused on ranged fighting talents.

I was sorry not to reach tier 4 for Throwing Knives. Yes, a fully-developed tier 4 skill would cost 400 chi. That wasn’t the obstacle. I could scrape that together somehow. And we were well-fed out here, and not under attack. We could have stayed here as long as we liked, until the fish decided to flee.

But above tier 3, other requirements came into play. I had to reach Degree 1 Enlightenment, for example, in order to push the talent’s branch further. Meaning that tier 3 was, for me, the ceiling.

I did consider pushing out of degree 0. Cool talents were something I yearned for. But not at the price of a potential nerfing of my drop rates. Even if my greed in this matter led me to an early grave, I would hold onto it. The mountains of treasure which fell at my feet were my one chance at escaping the very bottom of this society.

With rewards like this, I could practically purchase eternal life. No health problems. No financial problems.

Why would anyone risk such an opportunity?

We completed Beko’s final attribute level on the evening of the second day. He would feel his normal self by morning, and we could set off.

As I had promised, these attributes had been developed to the max. We pushed this last one to a record 37 units. Even a nobleman would sit back in satisfaction at such a result. Assuming he was, of course, only a modest nobleman.

But for a commoner, such growth was jaw-dropping.

The spices helped, along with the valuable attribute-pumping trophies consumed at the right moments. I tried to repeat the same processes which had pushed my attributes up so high. The results were less impressive this time, but Beko was ecstatic.

And, I began to think, a little scared of me.

He was a greedy creature, and here he saw all of this wealth evaporating before his very eyes. The fact that the results were being applied to him evoked within him powerful emotions bordering on terror.

And here’s the thing: despite all my efforts, Beko’s math skills still left much to be desired.. But as soon as it came to the distribution of parameter points and units, mathematical abilities emerged.

I was certain that this was some kind of a native instinct. Otherwise, how could illiterate creatures develop their ORDER parameters at all? They had to make choices and keep track of things.

Or was the distribution made automatically? It reminded me of a friend I once had at school. His math skills were terrible, but as soon as real money was involved, he could run formulas like a grad student.

Perhaps this was similar.

* * *

I stretched my hands over the smoldering coals. “Summer is here, and yet it’s still freezing out.”

“At least it’s not raining.”

“Yeah, it was drizzling all night. Good thing we have that tarp. Well, are you ready?”

“I don’t know. Aren’t you scared?” Beko