New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

In the next two days, Alexander ran around town a lot.

First, he went to make sure everything was still in his apartment. Then he went to visit the house hunting agency he had contracted.

They had lined up a few visits for him over the week he was in the hospital. He agreed to go visit a few of them the same day, and the last couple the next day.

But he didn't have to go in the next day, for he found what he wanted on the third visit they went on.

The realtor was giving him options from the lowest he was willing to pay, to the highest he had asked. But the woman had also slipped in another option, a little over his budget, but with all the requirements he had asked for.

It was a penthouse in some newly built condo building in downtown Montreal. The security was top-notch, with private elevators for the penthouses, locked by keycard and biometric locks.

Anyone that wanted to go up would have to either be allowed up from inside the penthouse, or scan their handprint, eye, and keycard access. Getting across all those measures was no small feat.

Then, there was virtually no access from the outside, since the penthouse was situated well over a hundred meters up. The windows were also bulletproof, since they expected VIPs in this kind of condo.

The penthouse had a large open area living room and dining room, with easy access to the kitchen on the first floor. And on the second floor, one master bedroom, two secondary bedrooms, and an office.

Both floors had access to a balcony, each on a different side of the building. The view, both from inside the penthouse and on the balcony, was breathtaking.

Alexander knew this penthouse would be over his budget, most likely by a big margin, but he had to ask for its price.

"Well, Mr. Leduc, over the phone, you specified you wanted to stop your budget at a million and a half. Now normally, this penthouse is on sale at two point five," the lady said.

Alexander gasped at the price. This was a full million over what he wanted to pay!

"But the contractor that built this building is an open-minded fellow. He also knows who is visiting today, and was willing to offer another pricing for it," she added.

Alexander frowned at the statement. Why had the realtor told the contractor who he was? And what use would knowing that, have to the sale?

"And what would that be?" he asked the realtor.

"The contractor has been trying to sell his penthouses for a while, but they come at a relatively steep price per footage. The reason is the top-notch security measures," she stated.

"Now. He is willing to reduce the price by half a million, specifically for you. But only on one condition." She added.

Alexander's frown deepened.

"And what condition is that?" he asked wearily.

"He would like to use your name and your story as an advertisement for his other penthouses. Your situation is quite peculiar and fits right into his target audience. So he is willing to lower the price by a fifth, on that condition." She finally said, coming clean.

Alexander took a moment to take in this information. He didn't want people to know where he lived, but with the security here, he would probably be safe, anyway.

Then, there was also the fact that this transaction would still leave a paper trail to him if anyone wanted to find him specifically. The pros and cons were balanced here.

What pushed the scale in one direction was that he very much needed a new home, and the sooner, the better. He took a few minutes to think things over and finally gave his ok.

The realtor became ecstatic as she pulled out her phone, contacting the contractor. While she did that, he called his financial advisor, asking him for another fund transfer.

The man grumbled a bit, but did as asked. The money came in, and all that was left was for him to sign the papers and pay for the property.

The contractor insisted on being there for the singing, saying he wanted to meet the man in person. So, after waiting for close to half an hour, the contractor arrived.

They had some idle chatter as they signed the papers together; the realtor seeing dollar bills with every pen stroke. Once the transaction was complete, Alexander called a moving company.

He fixed the whole payment and schedule in twenty minutes, and had his stuff brought to him the next day. The expediency cost him a pretty penny, but all things considered, it was still better than waiting for days.

The next day was spent placing his belongings in his new home, starting with the gaming pod. He set his pod in his room, setting up his new IP address in the account.

He then had to switch his delivery address on Evo-Gaming's website for his IV subscription. The change took some time, since he needed to confirm his ID and new address with some form of legal document.

But once all this was done, he launched the pod in idle mode so that it would connect to the network. He had the internet and cable installed in the morning, and now he was all set.

He wasn't in a hurry to launch the game yet, as it was still early in the day, and he decided to enjoy the breeze from his balcony.

The air at this altitude was cold, but with the scorching summer sun, it was a pleasant contrast. Of course, the balcony on the other side was currently shielded from the wind, but he wanted to feel the wind.

All the pressure from the last week seemed to vanish, carried away by the summer breeze. He leaned on his balcony's ledge and looked at Montreal from his aerial point.

'Is this what it feels like to be rich? Yet I feel so much poorer. This place cost me a fortune,' he thought, contemplating the city from above.

He stayed on the balcony for well over an hour, letting his thoughts wander about. He snapped out of his reverie when his stomach rumbled.

Since he hadn't yet bought some groceries, he ordered in. This tested out his security system at the same time satisfying a bit of vanity from him.

After eating, he went to lie down in his pod. It was time.

"Welcome back, Player Astaroth." The robotic voice said, as per usual.

"Log in," Alexander said, closing the lid of the pod.

*Launching 'New Eden'*

*Logging in*

*Welcome back player Astaroth*