Chapter 87: Good Friend

Alexander met Laurent at a Sector 12 bar. He'd needed to postpone their original meeting time, but only mentioned that a personal problem had come up.

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Laurent was one of Alexander's oldest friends. They'd known each other since elementary school and had always shared a passion for video games, especially MMOs. Laurent's parents had always limited him to playing one hour during weekdays and two hours per day on weekends, which had always limited his progress... But things were about to change!

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After the two friends shook hands, ordered beers, and sat at the table—which was infinitely better than the counter at which Alexander had gotten drunk, as this was one of the best bars in Paris—Alexander spoke up.

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"I'm really sorry I didn't answer you earlier, but 'Horus' just took up all of my time. But here, I've got your helmet."

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Alexander held out the VRI helmet Laurent had lent him all those months ago, which had allowed him to restart his life in this new world.

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The advantage of the VRI helmet over the old, standard VR helmets was that it scanned its user's face and brain, thereby tying user accounts to the actual person wearing them. This solved many problems which had plagued MMOs in the past, such as botting and hacking. If you were banned from a game using a VRI helmet, then you couldn't fool the brain scanner into letting you make a new account!

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Best of all, of course, it allowed for instant and secure connectivity to game servers. VRI helmets truly allowed for a renaissance of MMORPGs.

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Laurent examined his helmet, making sure it wasn't damaged. Though scalping prices had dropped since "Horus's" launch, VRI helmets were still very expensive, nearly 20,000 credits new. For a middle-class student like Laurent, this was an enormous sum.

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The helmet was intact, despite the intensive use of Alexander and his father. Their family was very accustomed to taking good care of their belongings, since they had little to spend on repairing careless mistakes!

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Laurent finally said, "Thank you! Honestly, I was starting to think I'd never see it again. As for me, I just finished my Computer Science studies. Now I'm looking for a job, which gives me plenty of time in the near future to start 'Horus!' Sure feels good to not be the only person I know who isn't playing it. Pro-Streamer was saying it broke 400,000,000 players at once. Isn't that insane? You're so lucky to have started right away! How far are you? Did you manage to join a good guild and make some money?"

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Alexander knew Laurent was a skilled player, as well as a nice and faithful human being, so he intended to invite his friend to join Eclipse. With that in mind, there was no point in hiding his identity. "Yes, I guess you could say I've had a good start. I'm lvl 26 in the Eclipse guild. My in-game name is Apophis. Don't know if you've heard of me."

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Those last words were spoken with a tinge of ironic arrogance, of course. Laurent knew exactly who Apophis was, as Alexander had known he would. Of course, Alexander had never been a pro gamer in any other MMO, so this claim was ridiculous, and Laurent took it as a joke.

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"Well," he said with a grin, "I'm hiding my secret identity too! My real name is William Woke, AKA Lucifer. You know, the best player in the world. I have a billion credits, thirty-eight houses, and eighteen flying cars—and I sleep with Josephine Portman every night!"

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The two men burst out laughing and Laurent added, "Seriously, what's your in-game name?"

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Alexander knew he couldn't convince him with words. He'd lied to Laurent many times in the past, and this was quite the incredible story, regardless of his reputation.

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So Alexander put his holo-watch into projection mode. A 3D web page appeared, displaying his bank account with its unmistakable balance of 14,500,000 credits.