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

big you can’t see across it, and with salty water. Sounds like a lie to me.”

“Hey, don’t pick on our ship. It’s not much to look at, but you have to start somewhere. Real winners need to be able to win from the water, not just from the land. And you and I are real winners.”

“Who is there for us to win against on Blackriver?”

“Let’s start with the kotes.”

“Why do we need this raft then? Kotes are easy enough to catch from the shore. Romris took a whole pile of squares from us to build this thing. Squares we could have kept. Imagine how much yummy food we could have bought. Expensive food!”

“Yes, Beko, you’re right—we can catch kotes from the shore. But these fish are unpredictable, you know. Sometimes they go so far away from the shore that we can’t reach them, not even with my spinning rod. Then, we have to walk up and down the shore, looking for some small exception. Meaning we have to waste valuable time. And time, Beko, is worth more than squares of leather.”

“Oh, I’d sell my time for them,” Beko said dreamily. “But nobody is buying.”

“There’s more.” I pointed upstream. “See where the beach ends?”

“Of course. I’m dumb, not blind.”

“That’s not really where it ends. It continues underwater. I’m sure the visible sandbar becomes longer in the dry seasons, when the water level drops.”

“Right,” Beko confirmed.

“I’ve noticed that the smaller kotes like to swim around there, in the shallow areas above the submerged sandbar. I can quickly catch these fish. All the while salivating at how many there still are further away. That’s the best place for spinning fishing, after all. The water is fairly clear of large stones, and those that do exist are usually not close together. So there’s hardly any risk of my tackle getting stuck between them. We can push out from shore a ways, drop anchor, and fish for kotes in all directions! The current is not very strong, and the water is shallow enough that we don’t even need paddles—we can push ourselves around with poles. Easy come, easy fish, easy go.”

“How do we get the kotes up onto the raft?” Beko wondered. “They wriggle and flap up a tempest when they break the surface. Strongest just before they reach the shore. So we what, smash their heads with a club? That’ll knock them off the line entirely!”

Silently yet triumphantly I raised a huge scooping net, fixed at the end of a pole.

“Here you go.”

“So? What’s the net for?”

“To seal the deal. Once a fish is near the raft, we pull it up with this, and then stun it. Let’s give it a try.”

* * *

You have dealt significant damage to the kote. You have dealt fatal damage to the kote. The kote is dead. You have defeated the kote (1st Degree).

              You receive:

Lesser Symbol of Chi x5

Lesser Attribute Mark, Stamina x1

Lesser Attribute Mark, Agility x1

Lesser Attribute Mark, Strength x2

Talent Mark, Scent of Blood x1

Lesser Standard Talent Mark x1

Talent Mark, Detect Poison x1

Lesser Personal Talent Mark, Fishing Instinct x1

That was our tenth catch off the raft. I paused to take stock.

The raft was holding up admirably. At first, it seemed too big, and thus hard to manage. However, its stability was excellent, so this disadvantage was quickly forgotten. The weight of the platform in the center of the raft, which included large stones in its construction, prevented any significant tilt no matter how much Beko and I walked, laden with things, around the raft’s sides.

In this, at least, I had no complaints against Romris. He had earned his pay.

Perhaps I had been wrong to doubt his shifty eyes.

I had hoped that the ORDER would have rewarded me for placing the order with him, but I received nothing.

However, the prizes for the kotes increased substantially. Just now I received four marks for various attributes—and this was the second instance of such a prize. All of the others dropped three, except for only a few who dropped two. The fish themselves were no different than before. They were perfect for my experiment. Nothing larger swam here, in the shallows above the submerged part of the sandbar.

Activating Fishing Instinct, I looked towards the left river bank. Then, to the right. The two sides were equivalent: about a dozen young kotes stayed close to large, isolated rocks underwater, or slowly patrolled back and forth, ambushing any smaller creatures drifting by. They were predators, and were actively feeding now—which meant they also threw themselves at my spoonbait like drunks at beer in a tavern. At this rate we would have the baskets full before long, and it would be time to start stringing them upon on a piece of cord. We would have hundreds of pounds of fish by evening. An amazing profit, especially since this counted as elite food and dropped two kinds of spices. Only rarely could a miner earn more in a day on his ore, and only when he located an unusually rich vein.

The amounts we were hauling in was already the talk of the town. I would be unable to put everything I earned to immediate use—my last round of self-improvement had shown me that. My body could not withstand such large leaps in strength and ability without equally large periods of rest. Perhaps these overloads might have longer-term effects, too. It was best not to risk it.

The gossip was turning to darker places, as well. Many were jealous of our success—after all, a cripple and a poor newcomer had struck it rich. The people might decide us unworthy. Why should a level 2 teenager and a ghoul make more than even the miners? Yes, we were legitimate trading post workers, but that didn’t mean that Ash and his