The last page of the first section, 'Glamours', made him want to get up and dance when Dex explained its purpose. "It's for changing your appearance or mine. How you look now will be your default appearance and it will always be one of the options, but this saves any alterations so you can change your look at will. For example, you can visit a salon and get your hair done. That will add a new hairstyle option. You could go to a plastic surgeon and get a nose job. That'll add another. You could replace your limbs with cybernetic parts—that'll log itself as a glamour option, too. In Nexus, it'll even be possible to change your size, gender, and basic species."
"So I'd be able to transform into a lion?" Hugh asked in awe.
Dex smiled and gently bumped his forehead against Hugh's, making Hugh blush at the sudden affection his Navigator was showing. He didn't understand where it was coming from, but he couldn't say he disliked it, either.
"Glamours are limited to humanoid forms. Anthropomorphic options can be achieved at the right price, but they aren't easy to acquire. You'll also need a cosmetic surgeon with the right Achievements to perform the operation."
"Oh. Then what species did you mean?" Hugh rolled his eyes at himself when he realized it was a stupid question. "Wait, let me guess. Elves, dwarves, and trolls? Or angels and demons?"
Dex's smile widened as he answered, "Those are all possible, but the easiest species to unlock are actually cyborg and lich. Cyborg comes with a bonus to your Tech Equips. Lich comes with special abilities you can use between death and resurrection."
"What kind of special abilities?" Hugh asked. Dex froze and pulled his arm away, his expression filling with distaste as he stared out at the forest around them.
"I don't know," he eventually grumbled. "My reference files don't have those details."
And uncomfortable silence fell between them while Dex struggled with his apparent limitations. It reminded Hugh of the first time it'd happened, giving him a prime opportunity for distraction.
"Let's go check the water well. I'm sure the bucket has hit bottom by now."
His Navigator's face cleared as Hugh stood and held out a hand to help him up. The heat of the day hit them both hard, making Hugh grimace at the fact he only had one set of the Robes of Affluence. Or did he?
Deciding it was a good time to try out some of his new abilities, Dex held his hand out at the wrinkled Robe and said, "Scan Robes of Affluence" to trigger the starter implant he'd equipped on the Tech Equip page.
A holographic panel immediately appeared, hovering over the Robes. It gave him all the help text he'd come to expect after perusing his Book, albeit with three new additions. The first was the 'Unique' label in the upper right corner of the panel. The other additions were the buttons at the bottom of the screen. The first said, 'Save Scan' while the other said, 'Add to Book'.
"What's 'add to Book' do?" Hugh asked.
Dex looked over from where he'd been stretching out his arms and said, "It adds the scan to the last section of your Book—the Appendices. What's in your Appendices will affect your world. You'll see NPCs wearing any clothes you put in there and their favorite meals will be the recipes you have listed. Books, music, and movies affect the Nomad society's preferred genres. If you pick stuff lacking copyrights in the real world, they'll be allowed to reproduce it. Even the Bestiary has an effect on the creatures in their lore and artwork. Basically, the twenty-five pages of your Appendices all combine to form the foundation of your planet's aesthetics."
"So if I add this scan to my Book, all my NPCs will be wearing these?" Hugh asked to clarify.
"Not all of them unless you mark it as a staple item, but some NPCs might choose to wear variations," Dex replied with a huff over Hugh's lack of appreciation for the amount of control he'd been given over his world. "And NPCs can't replicate Unique items exactly, regardless of how much they study it, so their Tech effects will be diminished."
"Then I'm guessing the difference between adding it and crafting it directly is—with adding, you only have a random chance an NPC will choose to craft it and be willing to part with it. With crafting, it's the same thing every time and I'm always the person who owns it. Right?"
Dex blinked expressionlessly, not understanding Hugh's train of thought, and said, "Yes, although you can't craft Uniques, either. You can only study them and discover lesser variations. Why?"