The World of SENSES: An Introvert's Journey as the Helper Begins.

Chapter 8.1

Buona awoke to enveloping darkness and the familiar ache of fatigue. His body protested as he moved, a consequence of spending sixteen hours immersed in the virtual world of SENSES. He removed the SENSES helmet and placed it beside his bed, pondering his excessive playtime that was usually manageable, but today it felt overwhelming.

Sitting up, Buona reflected on his latest achievement: a job change within the game. "Helper," he mused aloud, still perplexed. What kind of job is that? Despite years in the game, he had never encountered it before.

His stomach grumbled louder than his thoughts, reminding him it had been sixteen hours since his last meal. This was precisely why SENSES implemented a time limit, forcing players to rest and attend to their physical needs.

Buona stood up and walked towards the kitchen. He took instant noodles from one of the drawers. He opened it and poured some hot water into it. While waiting for his instant noodles to be ready, he turned on his computer. While waiting, he checked his cell phone on the table. There was an unread message. He started eating the noodles he had made while checking the message.

'Mama' He opened the message.

'How are you Buona? How's your college?'

Buona lowered his head after seeing the message. Then he started slurping the noodles he had made. Remembering when he was still in his village worked anything he could to collect tuition money to enter university. Yet, once in the city, he had been lured by a SENSES advertisement, captivated by tales of new worlds and endless adventures. The tuition funds went to SENSES equipment instead. Over a year later, he had not informed his parents of his decision, keeping up the facade that he was a university student.

Still, Buona hadn't asked his parents for financial help at that time, sustaining himself modestly through the game. SENSES, with its vast player base, had created a lucrative real-world market for its in-game currency and items. Gold and treasures from his quests converted into money, though living on it was frugal at best since he was still in the game's starting city.

Buona put his cell phone on the table as his computer started to turn on. The cup noodles he ate were almost empty too. He started opening an online browser and started looking for any information regarding helper jobs. He couldn't find any explanation on any site. Then he entered the SENSES player forum and tried searching there. But there are also no threads related. Buona started to get confused. After mustering up his courage, he tried making a thread asking about helper jobs in the forums. The thread was posted, and not long after that, there was some comment.

'Helper? You mean a maid?'

'What kind of job is a helper?'

'You mean slaves?'

Several other comments appeared in the thread created by Buona. But the content is still just a taunt. Buona started to get annoyed closed the thread and turned off his computer.

So no one ever heard of this job. What should I do? Buona started thinking about the new job he got. Buona finished his noodles, threw them away, and drank the water that was near his table. He tried to remember the explanation of the helper job again.

From the explanation of each skill in the helper job, I can form a team with NPCs, have skills by copying skills from NPCs, have NPC status, and have control like NPCs. The only requirement is a relationship with the NPC. When I tried to have the skills of an NPC, my job also changed to suit the NPC job that I used as a reference.

Buona started to put together a pattern for this job.

When I tried to use assist and choose Guarda's target NPC, my job changed to helper (soldier). Skills also appeared outside of the skills I initially had. What are the skills from the Guarda job? My skills will likely adapt to the NPC I choose. Does that mean my job can change according to the selected NPC? Does that mean I can do any job in SENSES? I can be a knight, blacksmith, archer, and even mage. What kind of job is this?

Buona's heart raced at the thought. The helper role seemed boundless, yet achieving the required relationships with NPCs was challenging. Most of his connections were with non-combat roles, except a few soldiers he'd met during quests.

He started to make some notes on a paper he found. He makes a question mark in cooldown. Another problem is the skill cooldown. A very long skill cooldown for 2 skills from the 4 skills I get. The helping hand and assimilation cooldown is so long, with a 30-day skill cooldown and a 180-day skill cooldown. I've never heard of any skill cooldown that lasted for that long.

Maybe helping hand skills will be the last resort when I meet a strong enemy. But for assimilation, I don't think I ever used it. After all, my NPCs relationships that have reached the maximum are also only a few production NPCs. He scratched his head in frustration.

This is tiring. Buona got up from his chair, took a drink, and looked out of his studio's window. He looked at the street outside his studio which he had lived in for approximately 1.5 years. The full moon lights up the street outside. People were seen walking near his apartment. Buona focused on the students who were walking and joking with their friends. I need someone to discuss this with. Long sighs come out from Buona. Hah... but with whom?

I'd better sleep and tomorrow check the items dropped by Varulv then learn skills from other NPCs. Buona climbed into bed and fell asleep.