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

This was especially insulting given that he was shorter and well below my weight class, and couldn’t have been that far ahead of me in terms of his attribute levels. Clearly, amulet-boosted attributes weren’t anywhere near as effective as “the real thing.” But the ghoul also pulled off a few nifty moves that suggested he wasn’t a stranger to the sport.

“Where did you learn all that?” I couldn’t resist asking him.

“This guy taught me a few things when I lived at the outpost,” Beko said. “My hand-to-hand combat is at six as a result, and yours probably isn’t even unlocked.”

“Sixth tier?!” I gasped.

“Of course not. Sixth level.”

“I see... And how did you unlock the talent? Where did you get the personal talent mark?”

“I earned it practicing with that man. When you do something long enough, you get a mark eventually. But it takes time and effort.”

Oh really? Intrigued by the news, I wrestled Beko a few more times with no result, but the third time proved the truth of his words.

You have earned a Personal Talent Mark, Hand-to-Hand Combat x1

There wasn’t much I could do with this now, but it should prove handy in the future. The talent was universally useful, especially for someone like me, as without it I would forever remain the weakest of the weak. Commoners were fond of fisticuffs, and I had no choice but to live among them. Even Beko was out of my league, and before my arrival he was the resident loser.

Wrestling was a highly intensive activity, and before long we were both gassed. We found respite from the sun in the shade of a giant boulder. The weather was hot for a spring day, and the pebbled beach lacked any large vegetation. We snacked on leftover porridge we had kept from breakfast. The food was hardly delicious, but we hadn’t had any money left for anything better. In theory, we could get back and bank today’s haul, but I was going to do that later tonight. There was no point in flashing our wealth in the fort any more than absolutely necessary. Having left us indigent this morning, Guppy might find it suspicious that we were rolling in dough again after a day’s work. And I wanted to avoid any extra scrutiny.

The kote returned to the shore closer to dusk, and I managed to catch three more before calling it a day. Then, leaving Beko to guard the haul, I headed up to the fort.

There, I picked up two more empty baskets from Megaera and borrowed a couple of ceramic saucers, promising to return them forthwith. Then I roamed around the settlement for a bit until I found the Carps. The boys were sitting on their butts in the carpenter’s shop, debarking thin long twigs of a plant I didn’t recognize. It looked sort of like the shoots of a willow, only larger.

I couldn’t say that they were happy to see me, but they were in no hurry to hurl insults or throw punches. I was no longer just a mysterious stranger, but a valuable worker in the eyes of Ash. Messing with me was fraught with all kinds of problems.

“Hello, fellas,” I extended a polite greeting, peering into Satat’s eyes—two oceans of poorly concealed hatred diluted with wariness.

Before they had a chance to reply, I continued.

“Care for some kote? This much,” I spread out my palms to indicate half an arm’s length. “If you do, come down in half an hour. If you help us carry our baskets to the inn, we’ll pay you in fish. If you don’t, I can find other helpers.”

I turned around and headed back to Beko who was dressing our haul. We had to hurry, as he was putting the meat, scales, brains and liver on burdocks, which wasn’t very convenient.

We urgently needed some better containers.

Among many other things.

Today’s haul amounted to ten kote. Each weighed between seven to fifteen pounds. Small by local standards, but still roughly one hundred pounds all together. Well beyond the carrying capacity of me and Beko. I had no doubt that the perpetually hungry Carps wouldn’t resist such a tempting offer.

Granted, I could have enlisted more capable helpers, but why? Business relationships helped to elevate the level of tolerance, if not friendship. And whatever the future held, it would behoove me to have fewer enemies. Besides, these kids never caused me any harm, so there was no sense in carrying on this state of war. Sure, Beko had his own reasons to dislike them, but that was him. I had to think about myself first.

As the ghoul dealt with the fish, I took a seat on the shore and began processing my personal trophies. Here, too, each individual catch yielded nothing of significance, but taken together, it looked pretty solid. ORDER had been continuing to dispense better prizes for using a rare fishing method. I assumed that this would continue until someone else discovered the art of the spoonbait.

My list of acquisitions was impressive.

Greater Symbol of Chi x10

Greater Standard Talent Mark x10

Greater Standard Universal State x10

Lesser Symbol of Chi x59

Lesser Attribute Mark, Agility x9

Lesser Attribute Mark, Stamina x11

Lesser Attribute Mark, Strength x8

Standard Attribute Mark x9

Talent Mark, Scent of Blood x6

Talent Mark, Detect Poison x4

Talent Mark, Detect Traps x5

Lesser Standard Talent Mark x17

Lesser Personal Talent Mark, Fishing Instinct x8

I used the chi symbols straight away. The more of those I had in my reservoir, the more peace of mind I felt. And I shouldn’t forget about shadow chi. As the parameter grew, it would enable me to use Fishing Instinct with greater frequency.

The total amount now surpassed four hundred, meaning I was nearly at the halfway point to filling the reservoir. That went a long way towards not stressing about my leakage of