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

oh well. I had plenty else to do while my shadow chi regenerated.

Standing at my side, Beko sensed my disposition.

“Did we do something wrong?”

“No, everything is fine,” I said. “We’re about to start fishing kote.”

With those words, I began work on the second tackle. Having already staked the block to the pebble, I needed to wind the main part of the cord in a loop to prepare for casting.

At this point, even Beko realized that something was off.

He asked with hesitation.

“You’re going to fish with a pebble instead of a spoon?”

“Exactly right, Beko. A holed pebble.”

“And it’s going to bite?”

“Of course not. Kote aren’t stupid to pounce on a pebble. And even if they were, the river is already full of pebbles. Enough for them to feast for ages.”

“Why are you doing it, then?” the ghoul stared at me with a blank expression.

As I continued working on the useless tackle, I said quietly.

“See Satat’s brother over there?”

“Romris? Yeah, I do. He’s been sitting there this whole time.”

“What about the other kid? Who is he?”

“That’s Bargo. He’s Lame Chuggs’ son. The eldest one.”

“Tell me, Beko. Do you find it odd that two able-bodied males have spent the past several hours sitting there, watching us as we toil?”

“Maybe they’re bored...” the ghoul suggested without conviction.

“That’s a load of crap and you know it. There’s always work to be done in the fort. Ash himself had to mediate a conflict between a bunch of kids because it was disrupting regular operations. He wouldn’t stand for anyone slacking—even losers get loaded with work to keep them busy from dawn till dusk. And here we’ve got a couple of loiterers. Except they’re not really loiterers.”

“Who are they, then?” Beko still wasn’t following.

“They’re spies. They’re engaged in industrial espionage.”

“What? They aren’t spies at all! They’re Bargo and Romris.”

“And why couldn’t Bargo and Romris be spies? They’re out here looking to suss out our kote fishing method. Such knowledge is incredibly valuable, you see. And I have no intention of sharing it for free. Besides, there’s no point in creating competition for ourselves. We must remain the fort’s exclusive kote suppliers. Are you with me?”

“You think that if Bargo and Romris learn to fish kote, we might get banished from our cellar?”

I nodded. “Of course. They’re stronger than we are, with more degrees of enlightenment and attributes. Fishing comes easier to them than to us. Which is why we’re going to fish with the purpose of not catching anything.”

“You’re clever.”

“That I am.”

“But if we don’t catch anything, how are we going to fill our quota?”

“Eventually they’re going to get sick of watching us aimlessly. Once they leave, we’re going to get to some real fishing.”

“But if we start catching fish, they’ll come back to look.”

“And they’re going to watch me do the same thing: cast a pebble into the river. Don’t worry, Beko, I’m going to teach them not to spy on us. Time is too precious a commodity to waste it on useless endeavors.”

The visual memory of a person who had spent the past twelve years studying the world not with his feet but with his eyes, was naturally quite advanced. The spot I had picked wasn’t random. If I could trust the picture revealed to me by my fishing talent before my inexperience had wasted all of my shadow chi, this area shouldn’t have any drowned snags or large rocks. The pebbled beach sloped gently to near the middle of this branch of the river. There was virtually no fish at this spot, with only the occasional flickering of small fry.

It was exactly what I needed.

I cast the line, waited a few seconds and began dragging it along the floor, slowly and carefully, straining every so often to free the hook that kept catching on to small rocks. The rocks would turn over, and the dragging resumed.

On the second cast, Bargo and Romris couldn’t resist drawing closer for a better look. On the third cast, they were almost on top of me, photographing my every action with their eyes.

Needless to say, they paid the most attention to the tackle.

Finally, Bargo spoke.

“I’ve never seen anyone use a rock to fish.”

“It’s not an ordinary rock,” I replied mysteriously.

“I can see that. It’s got a hole in it. But it’s still a rock. And you’ve picked a bad spot to fish. There are no kote here. They tend to stick to areas with snags and boulders.”

With those words, Bargo moved back and began wandering the beach, bending down every so often. Romris followed his lead. Some ten minutes later, the latter darted toward the mountain with a big grin on his face, gripping something in his right hand. He returned quickly and started knitting a cord out of frayed stalks of wild leek.

Bargo walked over to him and the two had themselves a brief chat. After that, both men walked right past us and toward the fort, wearing enigmatic expressions.

As they passed, Romris remarked condescendingly.

“Stupid kids. You ain’t caught nothing and you ain’t gonna. But I will, and soon.”

“Best of luck to you,” I replied to the boor most sincerely.

He would need luck to catch kote, as those beasts weren’t so foolish as to pounce on rocks being dragged along the river floor.

Romris and Bargo situated themselves on a promising spot and began taking turns casting a copy of my fake line. They had decided to forgo a block, figuring that I was using it on account of my feebleness, and that they would have no problem handling the haul without it.

After their third cast, the “competition” rushed to move a bit further, drawn to a breaker amid some snags left by a decently sized fish, its red tail flashing