Chapter 2: Welcome(back) in Horus

After recovering from the emotions of realizing that he had been sent nine years into the past, Alexander began his plans to jump into Horus as soon as it was released.

Of course, one of the first things that occurred to him was that he had a second chance now to save his mother.

In his first life, she had caught her cancer late, when it was already in an advanced stage. At that time, the family had simply lacked the money to get her appropriate medical care.

Alexander had an impulse to tell his mother to go to the doctor immediately... but this would do no good.

Even ignoring the costs of the cancer treatment, which Alexander's family couldn't afford, even a regular visit to the doctor would be expensive!

And then, even if Alexander managed to convince his mother to have a checkup—with no way to explain why he believed she should do so...

It might actually be worse for her to receive a diagnosis and then spend more time than necessary worrying about her cancer. Since he would surely earn the money for her treatment anyway, would it not be better for his mother to be blissfully unaware for as long as possible?

Yes, it would simply be best for Alexander to focus on making money as soon as possible. Once their finances were secure, his mother could receive her diagnosis and treatment without worry.

And unlike in his first life, making money in Horus would be a smooth process!

Alexander would begin again with the vast knowledge he'd amassed over nearly a decade of playing Horus in his original life. He could earn many Galactic Coins from the very beginning, which he could then sell for real-world credits.

What he first needed to do was get a VRI headset. A proper virtual reality booth like he'd used in his original life would be much better, but it was prohibitively expensive. Only rich professionals could afford one, and Alexander was neither... at the moment.

However, it wasn't as though regular VRI helmets were cheap and easy to buy, either.

The main problem was that, since Horus would launch in only three days, the waiting list to purchase a VRI headset was exceptionally long. Not only that, but the prices had inflated to 500% of the original price!

Luckily, Alexander had another student friend at the time who was a passionate VRMMORPG gamer. He had a VRI headset and, unlike Alexander, was extremely focused on his studies.

So Alexander saw this as the perfect opportunity to "borrow" the VRI headset until the global shortage ended.

As he left Paris's Sector 18 for Sector 11, the protective dome in the sky which hid 50% of the sunlight reminded him of the harsh reality of life in Paris at the beginning of the 22nd century.

There was a huge equity gap between the various city sectors... and that was nothing compared to the disparity between even the wealthiest Earthbound "worms" and the absurdly rich "celestials" who owned estates on the Moon or on Mars.

Even if it wasn't in space, Paris's Sector 11 was a high-class commercial district and a pretty good place to live.

At least, one didn't constantly risk dying because a drug addict wanted one's credits.

Upon arriving at his friend Laurent's place, the negotiation was quick. Alexander promised to help Laurent start playing once he earned his diploma, but it was still with an ounce of jealousy that Laurent gave Alexander his VRI helmet.

"I think," said Laurent, "that for the first time in my life, I envy you! You're going to play the best game of the century before me. I, on the other hand, am going to be in my room, messing up on my exam!"

Alexander returned home, carefully protecting the VRI helmet like it was the apple of his eye.

Unfortunately, it didn't matter how excited he was to start playing. He still had to wait another three days before Horus was released.

***

In the meantime, he noted down his route for the first day of the game and informed the school faculty that he was abandoning his studies.

The most difficult part was convincing his parents of the merits of his plan. Even though he was an adult and could make his own decisions, it was difficult to get them to accept he had spent three years studying, only to abandon the final exam.

His parents were sad and didn't understand why he was giving up everything at the last moment. He was so close to finishing, but at the very end, he had decided to quit school and pursue playing video games!

"I don't care how important of a game it is!" his father shouted at the dinner table. "What, do you think I don't understand? I was an avid WoW II player in my youth also! I even made a bit of money at it! But where did that get me? Nowhere!"

Alexander sighed. He tried to block his mother's sobbing out of his head. He knew that, from her perspective, it was as though he were throwing away his whole future to buy a lottery ticket.

"This is different, Mom and Dad. This is an actual career option. Have you seen some of the SuperGuild contracts? They've already promised people the ability to make a small wage just by working for them in the game, and it hasn't even been released yet!"

His father snorted. "It's slavery, that's all it is! Even more so than for normal employers. Yeah, don't think I haven't considered those contracts. They take a huge chunk of everything you earn. Not worth it."

"Perhaps," said Alexander, trying to be patient. "But that just shows that even a single player does have financial value! Otherwise, these companies wouldn't be investing so much money into hiring people!"

His mother, Fedérica, couldn't help herself any longer. "Oh, my son! Why couldn't this stupid game have come out a few months from now, instead of during exams?! For that matter, why can't you wait until you graduate, like your friend Laurent? He's a good boy! You should follow his example!"

The conversation went in circles for a while longer. There was one problem he couldn't solve with any amount of reasoning:

He knew for a fact that he could earn money from Horus only if he started from the very beginning... but that knowledge came from the future.

There was no way to prove the truth without sounding like a lunatic.

Finally, Alexander proposed an ultimatum. "If I don't manage to make a living out of my passion within the next six months, I'll repeat my last year and finish my degree. How does that sound?"

The truth was that Alexander had never had never shown even half this much determination in his life. His father, Nador, realized as their conversation continued that it would be a terrible thing to force his son to always look back on this as a wasted opportunity for the rest of his life.

Eventually, both his parents came to the realization that their son might actually push himself to greater heights than he ever had previously.

Even if Alexander went nowhere with the game, after all, he only had to take one year of school again.

To Alexander's surprise, his father even gave him a begrudging pat on the shoulder, along with a look full of nostalgia. "Well, I'm putting a lot of trust in you, my son. Don't let us down, you understand?"

Alexander smiled. "I promise I'll never let you down again. Either of you." Then he embraced both his parents tightly...

...And his mother, though she had recovered somewhat from her tears, wondered at why Alexander's hug seemed more tender than usual.

Then Alexander went back upstairs to his room and prepared for Horus's launch. He wrote down every important detail he remembered, made charts and plans for his first hours in the game... and then destroyed all the records once he'd organized his thoughts.

Whether people thought he was insane or not, it was best not to leave any trace of his future knowledge.

Then he made an effort to sleep more than usual, knowing that he would have few opportunities once he was playing in earnest.

<strong>***</strong>

The night of Horus's launch, Alexander connected to the server and lay down on his bed.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

<strong>System:</strong> Welcome to the Galaxy of Horus!