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

These thoughts did little to calm my avarice. I needed these fish. Lots of them. Today, I would deliver wheelbarrows upon wheelbarrows of them to the innkeeper. Tomorrow, perhaps I would consider holding back a little.

I activated my talent yet a third time, keeping it running for three whole seconds as I examined the center of the arm of the river running around the beach to the right. This was where the current was the strongest, so few fish swam there, as they were unable to deal with such strong waters. Those who were in the rush were struggling towards the shore or the sandbar, attempting to escape the current.

That was where the larger kotes were hanging out. Not as many fish as in the shallows, but quite bigger. Around twenty pounds on average, and sometimes a good bit more. I was ready to try my chances against them—after all, I was much stronger now.

Sometimes, even in the fastest stretches of the river, I saw swift shadows swim by. These resembled an elongated kote, but I doubted they were the same species. Kotes were always loners, unless the scent of blood or magic drew them together. These newcomers, however, swam in schools of five to seven. My eye was trained well enough now, too, to know which movements belonged to a kote and which did not.

It was likely another species. A predatory species. Fish which ate plants instead of other fish moved more slowly, feeding at a leisurely pace.

It was possible that these speedsters would like my tackle. I saw the dark swirls of eddies here and there. My anchor rope was only twenty-five feet long. If it did reach the river bottom, it would only barely. That was a poor idea, especially in a strong current.

“What do you think about sailing by that cliff?” I asked.

“I’m not in favor of that,” Beko replied. “We just hauled in whole pile of kotes. Why would we sail over there? There are plenty of fish here. Our fish!”

“And there are even more over there. Some of them larger.”

“I think it’s good enough here.”

“We should always be looking for better. But fine, we won’t rush it. This is a good place. How about we talk about this again after lunch?”

Chapter 29 The Treasures of Blackriver

No Stat Changes

It turned out I was right. We did not catch as many kotes in the new location, but those we did snag were noticeably larger in size. Meaning that they yielded more spices. Disproportionately more. A fish weighing double, twenty pounds instead of ten, yielded two and a half times as much spice. Or even three times as much. Most of our squares were in exchange for brains and livers.

One of these predatory fish was particularly perilous. It weighed at least thirty pounds. I sweat profusely as I fought with it. It was just the test I needed in order to be sure of the results of my experiment.

I defeated it, and with dignity. Only once was I scared, as the fish began to yank back, past the stern of the boat. If it passed close to the bottom of the river, after all, the line would become hopelessly entangled with the anchor rope—in which case I would almost certainly lose both my prey and my tackle.

Thankfully, that was avoided. The fish yanked mightily, but I still had plenty of strength left, and I heaved it into Beko’s net. Together, we dragged it on board and knocked it out with a couple of blows to the head.

I was delighted by the rewards this earned me. They exceeded the wealth of five small kotes. Not as rich as that first monster who had pulled me into the drink, but decent.

Beko hooted in glee. “I got an Agility mark!”

“Great!” I joined in his joy.

He only rarely got such rewards, even though he played a big part in catching large fish, clubbing them, and gutting and cleaning them. The ghoul was an ordinary native, after all, not a bottom-dweller like me, so the ORDER didn’t see fit to reward him too much. The whole of yesterday had earned him just a couple of lesser chi symbols—and he had been happy to tears. Beko claimed that sometimes, even though he kept himself busy with work, he did not earn so much in a whole month.

My rewards are like consolation prizes. They’re great because I suck, that’s all. Soon, I would have to face my inability to boost my useful talents higher than certain tiers—since I would have attribute level prerequisites to deal with. I hoped that would not be too soon. For now, I had to seize for myself as much advancement opportunity as possible, while this opportunity existed.

That would give me a chance to avoid groveling in poverty, as long as I worked hard on my Measure of Order. Raising that state to a high value would ensure decent trophies for me even down the road. It seemed to me that, the higher you climbed the Enlightenment ladder, the less the ORDER was inclined to spoil you. I planned to summit the thing, so I had to prepare.

Beko set to work gutting our catch, while I sat at the edge of the platform and started munching on a piece of cheese and a hunk of rye bread. No matter how much I ate, it was never enough for more than an hour. By the time that hour passed, I would be unable to think about anything other than food. I felt like a bottomless abyss had opened in my stomach.

“Want a bite?” I asked the ghoul.

He shook his head. “We need to collect all of the scales and spices. It’s all ours.”

“Keep at it,