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

Hand-to-Hand Combat was more tempting. Even at low ranks, it was a good ability. Beko had easily defeated me without breaking a sweat. Who wouldn’t want to be able to handle themselves better in a fight? How often did I find myself in hand-to-hand situations here, though? So far, never. It was a necessary acquisition, though. Mother had reserved ten units for it for a reason. She had often forced me into ridiculous sparring bouts with weaklings, hoping that the ORDER would condescend to give me this ability—an important one for nobles, apparently. Even the universally despised ghoul had it.

It was shameful not to have it.

But I could easily live with that shame for months. I had managed this far.

I prioritized the Healer talent. Quite useful for someone recovering from an illness. At lower levels, the skill could only heal minor wounds and scratches, but as it became stronger, the possibilities for its use would grow. People would pay huge sums of money to those with a high-level Healer skill. Those who could ameliorate chronic ailments and resuscitate many who were unable to be brought back by normal means. The strongest could even regenerate lost body parts. For all of its backwards character, local civilization had medical powers much stronger than those of Earth.

So I would take Healer. Even at low levels, it was a useful perk. Perhaps I would select not just one Healer branch but several. Each would need an attribute point, but spending them would be worth it.

Healer was not an easy talent to unlock from the start since it required developed Stamina. I had developed Stamina.

Just as I was about to activate my new talent, I saw something in my peripheral vision. The ORDER menu had a hidden place where special virtual trophies could end up.

I just assumed these were very rare cases, which only appeared in the most unique sets of circumstances. The powers that be, when they were faced with non-standard situations, acted in non-standard ways.

My non-standard situation was standing in the epicenter of an explosion fueled by the chi accumulated by generations of the Crow Clan. This stream, passing through me, changed not only my inner essence, but also did something with the amulet. Since it had been around my neck at that moment, the ORDER had considered the act worthy of a special reward.

Hidden Personal Talent Mark, Artificer: 1 unit. Activation requirements: 2 Perception levels, 2 Spirit levels. Additional requirement: initial activation costs 600 chi. Rank 1, level 1 costs 100 chi.

Unique talent. In order to develop the branches of this talent, you must reset your initial personal talent marks.

The first thing I realized was that this was no ordinary talent. It was a magic talent. Getting such a talent was extraordinarily lucky. Magical workers such as artificers never went hungry, not even in the most desperate times. I recalled how much money my mother had spent in order to recharge my abilities.

Once this talent was unlocked, could I recharge it myself? The ORDER’s policy on giving helpful information was to avoid such giving at all costs.

This wonderful discovery was, however, useless for the time being. I didn’t have the attributes I needed to activate the talent. They were locked, and I didn’t have the requisite chi, anyway. Activation and development of this talent cost a lot of chi. It was magical, after all.

There was a reason that chi symbols were also currency. Natives generally had no problems filling their personal reservoirs, but developing attributes and talents—and in some cases even using talents—cost additional chi. The only alternative to spending that chi took great lengths of time.

I finally set to doing what I had planned before my surprise discovery of the virtual personal talent mark. I used all ten chi symbols that were at my disposal. That added 120 units to my reservoir. 80 more lesser symbols brought this total to 200.

Now for talents.

I pumped Healer to 10, giving me access to the talent’s level 2 progress tree. The choices were limited, and I could only afford one option, as it was the only to require 2 Stamina levels and 1 Dexterity level. I didn’t have the prerequisites for any of the others.

But this one was fine with me. Cure Moderate Wounds allowed me to heal medium wounds and quickly stop any bleeding. My healing abilities were no longer limited to scratches.

Among diseases and other non-wound afflictions, I could only heal sores, runny noses, acne, and other little things. In order to handle any serious diseases, I would need to reset the talent and develop the appropriate branch.

Whenever that was possible. Whenever I acquired the necessary attributes. If I ever did. Simple talents, thankfully, did not need more starting marks. Once a simple talent was unlocked, all of its branches could be developed. As long as you stayed within the quantity limit, you could make whatever choices you wanted.

I was done with talents. I could unlock another, yes, but I decided to do that another day. With the chi I had remaining, my new talent would be quite weak.

Dinner was still quite far away.

What would I do with myself in the meantime?

I began a daring blueprint project. If everything worked out, I might be able to unlock another state. Or get some other happy perk. The ORDER’s rewards were far from predictable, so I had no idea what this significant achievement might earn me.

The merchant was out of town; like everyone else, he was out picking hornflowers. It must have been unusual for him, getting exercise. How would he see the flowers from behind his prodigious folds? I had to figure out a way to get some paper. It wasn’t so easy to find in this world. Production was only in small quantities, and the resulting products highly valued.

I concluded