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.
***
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…
System: Welcome to the Galaxy of Horus!
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Hamapo
Hamapo Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, if you liked it, please comment or even pass a Power Stone :)
chap udpate : 09/07/2022
ROTIG IN THE STARS !
Power Ranking Monthly #1
June 4, 2023 - June 20, 2026
Mass release 3 chapters
Chapter 3: Rush
System: Choose a name for your character.
Alexander had been thinking about his in-game for a long time. He wanted one that would inspire fear and respect. Since the game had just launched, all names were available.
"Apophis," he said.
System: Name available.
System: Do you want to customize your character, or transfer your appearance into the game?
"Transfer appearance."
System: Welcome to the Galaxy of Horus!
Apophis's vision gradually cleared, and he saw the starting area as thousands of players appeared at the same time.
Without wasting a single moment, he opened his character menu.
╔══════════════╕
╟─╼ CHARACTER
║ ╰╼[Name] : Apophis
║ ╰╼[LvL ] : 1
║ ╰╼[Tier ] :F {Weakling}
║ ╰╼[Class] : None *Unlock lvl 5*
║ ╰╼[Biology] Male Primary Human (Tier 0) | Next Tier : lvl 5
║ ╰╼[Galactic Coins] 100 GC
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼ SOUL
║ ╰╼Energy: 1
║ ╰╼[Alignment] 0 {Neutral}
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼STATS
║ ╰╼[Strength] 100 STR
║ ╰╼[Intelligence] 100 INT
║ ╰╼[Agility] 100 AGI
║ ╰╼[Dexterity] 100 DEX
║ ╰╼[Luck] 1 LUK
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼BOOK SKILLS
║ ╰╼[N/A]
╟─╼TALENT TREE SKILLS
║ ╰╼[N/A]
╟─╼PASSIVE SKILLS
║ ╰╼[N/A]
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼EQUIPMENT
║ ╰╼[Civilian Clothing (Common)]
╠══════════════╡
╟─╼SUMMARY
You are a basic life form—completely unexceptional, like the hundreds of billions of your kind across the universe.
╚═══════════════╛
Apophis closed the character menu and switched to the political menu.
╔══════════════╕
╟─╼POLICY
╟─╼[Stellar Year] 7099
╟─╼[Galactic Sector] Distant Suburb
║ ╰╼Novice Difficulty
╟─╼[Stellar Faction] United Federation of Planets
╟─╼[Planet] Era
║ ╰╼[Biome] Gaia
╟─╼[Continent] Teressa
╟─╼[Country] Republic of Tyo
╟─╼[City] Marra
╚═══════════════╛
"Hell no!" he scoffed.
Unfortunately, there was nothing egalitarian about the way players spawned in Horus. New players would always arrive on the planet named Era, but they could spawn in any number of towns and cities.
A small handful of these were very useful to start in, because they provided useful quests and monsters which were easy to grind.
Marra was certainly not one of these ideal starting towns! In fact, the closest zone which was actually worth questing in was two days of walking away, according to Apophis's memories.
Horus simply didn't care about creating equal opportunity for all players, so Apophis would need to create his own advantage.
And unlike all the other players spawning around him, Apophis knew exactly how to overcome this setback.
As Apophis stood in thought, everyone around him was bursting with excitement about this new game and babbling all at once on the town chat. Some players were undressing, some were attacking NPCs, and others were rushing towards any available quests.
All this chaos was worsened by the constant appearance of new players.
Moreover, due to what Apophis alone knew was a malfunction with Cortana, the NPCs in the game world had a level of intelligence and a capability for emotions comparable to real human beings.
The natives of this country, the Tyottings, were clearly terrified by this phenomenon surrounding them.
NPCs quickly fled in any direction they could, causing even more panic as players chased them down to receive quests. This same event was happening all over the planet, and the NPCs would later name it "The Advent of the Eternals."
Apophis didn't concern himself with all this.
Each player started with a small amount of money, and he could use it to buy a cab ride to the quest location he wanted. This would cut down his travel time from two days to only a few hours.
So rather than buying his first gun, like most players, Apophis instead rushed to the first cab he saw.
Of course, Apophis was only able to do this because of a peculiar cultural quirk of the rural Tyottings.
They had once been a rigid military people, but many years of uninterrupted peace had allowed peculiar, pacifistic philosophies to rise among the Tyottings.
Though it seemed baffling to anyone who wasn't a part of the culture, the Tyottings simply couldn't fathom that all the Eternals might be murderous sociopaths simply because some of the Eternals were attacking their friends and neighbors without cause.
After generation upon generation of unnatural peace, the Tyottings had simply lost a part of their vital survival instinct.
And so even though other Eternals were murdering NPCs close by, Apophis had no trouble hiring a cab.
"Say no more, Boss!" said the cab driver, looking in terror at the chaos on the streets. "I'm more than happy to take you as far away from here as possible if you've got the coin!"
So Apophis paid, settled back, and enjoyed the ride.
Along the way, he examined his status menus again, looking at the list of nearby NPCs who gave regular quests. None of them were worth doing compared to unique quests, and he saw nothing that sparked his memories of useful unique quests from his first life.
Oh well, he thought. I guess I'll just settle for that one Scorpion found. Hopefully I can make it there before he does in this life…
***
About two and a half hours later, the cab arrived at its destination in the middle of the forest. The road was in poor repair, since they were a good distance from any town or city, but it was still traversable.
Apophis got out, paid 87 Galactic Coins to the driver, and strode into the depths of the forest.
"I really hope that nothing ambushes me out here," Apophis said to himself. He had neither a gun nor any Skills, so he could do nothing but run if a wild monster attacked him. With this in mind, he crept as stealthily as possible towards a certain point on his area map…
Yes, he had finally arrived at the overgrown forest's center. The archeological ruins he was seeking were now visible over the trees in the distance. Within these ruins, Apophis would find his first quest.
Of course, the plan he was forming in his head would be difficult to perform alone. He might need to wait until Scorpion's group arrived before he could act…
But then Apophis heard gunshots in the distance, and he sighed in relief.
Scorpion had already arrived, and the gunshots were loud enough that he hadn't gotten into the ruins yet. At the moment, he and his group were still just grinding monsters for EXP.
The leveling process was extremely difficult even at LVL 1. In fact, it took almost a day of grinding the monsters around most starting zones to reach LVL 2! So it was no surprise that some players had grouped together to fight more dangerous monsters deeper in the forest, ones that would grant much more EXP.
Apophis immediately hid so he could better observe these players before they noticed him.
Open PvP was both common and profitable in this game. Every time a player died in PvP, they lost a level. At the same time, the attacking player got a random piece of the victim's equipment, as well as all their money.
After about ten seconds of observing the five players who were attacking several small wolves, he decided to risk sneaking by to scout the ruins.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Hamapo
Hamapo
Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, if you liked it, please comment or even pass a Power Stone :)
ROTIG IN THE STARS !
Power Ranking Monthly #1
June 3, 2023 - June 19, 2026
Mass release 3 chapters
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
3 Power
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