Alpha Zero (Alpha LitRPG Book 1) Arthur Stone (hardest books to read .txt) 📖

three a day, we can hit two hundred. And the run is the strongest towards the end of the season. So many garpikes come through during that time that even those vagabonds of mine managed to catch some. Do you understand?”

“As I said, fish are unpredictable.”

“Nineteen out of twenty people here can’t even pronounce the word ‘unpredictable’. Damn hicks is what they are. I’m counting on you, kid. You’re good at catching my meaning, and you’re good at catching fish. Catch a lot of them. I don’t want you to be distracted, either. Guppy and Jadiro will offer you credit. Take whatever you need. All you’ll have to do is sign. They’ll get what they need from Kucho. If you need money, you can go to Kucho, too—we’ll open an account for you. You shouldn’t be walking around with a bag of cash. Everyone with money relies on credit here. If you get sick again, we’ll get a local squaw for you. But she is just a medicine woman, not a real healer, so it’s better not to get sick. Is there anything else you need?”

“I’d like a better place to live, and a softer place to sleep,” I replied cautiously.

“I’ll tell Kucho to find you a good place. If you need anything else, you go to him, or even to me. Just remember: we need to catch as many garpikes as possible. If the board is disappointed by our report this year, we’ll take an even greater hit in the supply department. We’re barely stringing this operation along as it is. The merchants do not understand the Far North. They have no idea what doing business here is like—they think we are on beds of roses here, enjoying the handouts they send us. But the Three Sevens isn’t the only guild. Others are climbing the ladder in the Pentagon. I am certain that one of these is working against our operation here. The forest folk around here don’t have any reason to attack us. So why did they? Someone is paying them. Or holds some other kind of sway over them, other than money. I don’t like any of this. But the South doesn’t give a damn about my complaints and concerns. That is, until my report pleases those fat hogs taking up the seats around the board’s table. Then they’ll care. Your fish could be an impressive line in that report, and your name will be listed. That could do you a lot of good. Right now, you’re a nobody. Homeless. Family-less. A tramp. All you have in the world is your name—and some skills that the guild may find useful. If they do, they’ll give you a home and a good family. Remember that. Alright, you can head off to bed now.”

“I’ll remember,” I nodded. “Could I ask you a question? I think you are the best to answer it.”

“Shoot.”

“Can talents be deleted?”

“Of course. But why would you do that?”

“I don’t mean my fishing talents. I mean other talents.”

“Sure, any talent can be deleted. But in order to do that, you have to spend just as many talent marks as you expended to develop the talent. You’ll have to spend the chi, too.”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

I didn’t need to delete any talents—I had room enough to learn a dozen more without trouble. But this was useful information which had been excluded from Mom’s training.

Plus, why not give Ash a chance to show off a little intellectual superiority? It was a small moment, of course, but such things could have a very beneficial effect on a boss-underling relationship.

Plus, any conversation at all was bonding time, right?

* * *

Ash was no aristocrat, but he had learned from that class at some point. His speech had unnecessarily many words and much pathos.

I had, however, detected something interesting in what he said. Ash suspected that other guilds were involved in plots against the Three Sevens. Since the board considered his trading post’s future a hopeless one, this thought bothered none but him alone. Therefore, he was trying to distinguish himself as much as possible. He figured that once he got the goods he wanted, financial assistance would flow north to the post in waves.

How naive. The Stone had not been developed so that the South could pour more and more money into it, year after year. Rather the opposite. They would be happy to see some increased output, of course. Yet this would not cause them to send so much as an extra penny. After all, they could conclude that their current strategy was working fine.

Most corporate structures suffered from slow response time to varying circumstances and, similarly, mistaken assessments of what was happening “on the ground.” In this world, instant communication and travel was not available, not even to the imperial family, so logistics became much more complex.

I would reach adulthood before the guild moved to make any changes. In any case, I also suspected that my garpikes were hardly enough to sway any outcome. Ash would have to squeeze as much as possible out of as many areas of production as possible.

He would push everyone to their maximum. After all, he had just put his faith in an unknown vagabond. Heck, he’d be happy to engage with devil himself for a little extra payoff.

* * *

Despite my improving fortunes, I went to bed anxious. It was time for my next experiment with the parameters of the ORDER. My last try had taken me out of active life for twenty-four whole hours.

I had to keep from overdoing it. A few minor tweaks, here and there.

I began with my chi, as usual. I would need a lot of it, so I poured in all the lesser symbols I had, 660 in all. They had taken up a lot of space in my purse and my bag. I