HeadGear

"We just need some healers, but not just anybody. we need is a permanent member of our team, got it!"

A young man in his early twenties, inside a room in a dilapidated building on the far side of the city, spoke in a gentle tone. He is the leader of a soon to be established adventurers team in a VR game called 'CELESTIAL.'

...

It has only been a week since 'CELESTIAL' was officially launched, and the gamers are frantically lined up to purchase a VR headgear on every outlet around the metropolis, these people are either new or hoping to make a living in the gaming industry. For the later, they are either planning to join a workshop or an independent team unrestricted by standards.

This was the new norm since a hundred years ago, after the crown of nineteen, where there were less and less social interactions. That is when all the gaming industries started coming together and established the now known 'SDC.inc', a collection of research facilities and server grounds for the game governing system; an AI core, designed to oversee the game functionality, and to constantly enhance user in-game environment.

"Hay! Do we really need to upgrade now?" exclaimed a tall young lady with the slender features holding a white umbrella against the sun.

"We can come back later, but my viewer is broken, don't you think that it's about time for an upgrade?" retorted the boy.

"Well, Yeah. But the line is too long, and the wait is longer. We might as well stand here for days." said the girl with the umbrella.

All the outlet stores, looking like a clinic, complete with medical equipment, have been very busy for the past week, working 24 hours a day, unable to accommodate the influx of customers from all over the region.

"It's strange though," said the boy.

"What is?" asked the girl.

"You read the news for the past few days, right? This is the first time they are performing a full medical to purchase an upgrade." boggled the boy.

Unlike the old VR gears, the new release version had a major improvement, implementing a full Physical, Medical, and Psychological scan that has to be conducted on-site, every shop requires the clients' personal appearance.

Online shopping is only available for the rich, expecting customers to cover a mobile clinic utility cost, though the rolling clinic is used for rural areas, the cost is covered by their local community.

"Come to think of it, other than the yearly check-ups, The complete medical was conducted during the pre-school and middle school graduation." sited the girl.

Nowadays education is through Virtual education, no more sitting in a cramped classroom, no more bullying, most importantly no more unfavorable educators.

Every child is at the age of 7 are given free equipment, made like an X-Men 'Cyclops' goggles, usable only for 6 hours a day for the purpose of preliminary education and to promote growth, and at the age of 15, they are given a post-upgrade which will be used until they can purchase their personal gadgets. Of course, the privilege is only available because these devices are used to mine data from the growing children.

The government was originally opposed to the prospect of collecting the children's information, but the fact that education was made available to all, and other than an initial health screening, there is a mandatory, annual, individual health check-up on their birthday, the council yielded. That is why the government's and the company's collaboration was formed.

"Do you think the companies will be mining data with the new version?" asked the boy.

"Naturally, but I heard that it is optional. It depends on the individual if he wants to share all his data, at least that's what I heard." the girl said.

The information collected by the system was actually used to give birth to NPC's in the game, to make the games more realistic and enjoyable. SDC.inc proposed to grant scholarships to selected few that will become the initial test subjects of the NPC project, ranging from the catatonic patient, and young children to middle-aged, and elderly.

The compiled information from the headgears we're considering as the payment for the continued services, but as the person becomes independent, the input was reduced to the in-game information and interactions.

"Are you going to apply for the AI Core internship?" asked the boy.

"Nope..." said the girl.

"Then, what are you going to do? I heard that the Government is only hiring a limited number of applicants this year, and that is just for the apprenticeship." the boy said, not waiting for an explanation.

"They require a full-time applicant, I am still unsure if I want to work for the government, so I'm going for NPC control." girl quipped.

"Ohh..." the boy realized.

Being in the NPC control team means that the employees are on-call, managing the NPC in the game, and reporting to the headquarters.

NPC was being monitored ever since the first discovery of an intelligent NPC, causing bugs one after another, giving the developers a huge headache. Fortunately, some players spotted an NPC that is out of place, far from where it should be stationed, and reported it to the admins, who investigated the reports and found out that the NPC developed intelligence over the course of ten years.

With the information derived from the data of the first intelligent NPC, SDC.inc replicated the process and gave rise to the dynamic interaction between players and NPC, and by extension the game environment itself.

"What about you? Are you going to apply for the Core? Or are you going to be a watcher?" inquired the girl.

"Neither. I am invited to attend a server maintenance internship." boasted the boy.

"Good for you! They will regret it if they don't recognize your talent." praised the girl, knowing that the boy has always wanted to work at the research institute, where most game servers are stationed.

"So, I am going to move to the dormitories by next weekend." breaking the news to the girl.

"Ohh... It's a bit early, isn't it?" the lady said, trying to hide her disappointment.

She couldn't say that she wanted to go with him, she herself was invited to attend the internship, but because there is no one to look after her sick brother, she had to turn down the call. The administrators were dissatisfied with the girl's actions. In fact, she was the first to be invited, and the head of the local research facility had ordered her subordinates to find out the reason for her objection.