"I hate to rain on your parade, but Species Transfiguration isn't a spell," Dex said, stepping forward to pull the scroll out of Frankie's arms. He unrolled it to show them the trails of numbers filling the page in ten blocks of twenty-three. "It's nanobot programming language for gene therapy. He'll need to feed the program into the right Nano Tech, then inject the specific amount necessary to rewrite your DNA with gene alterations. That's where his real world experience comes in. Doctor Jones should have learned how to calculate the correct nanite dosage during college. But if he uses too many nanites or too little, the operation will fail. Mistyping the sequence when programming the Nano therapy will also cause failure. Failure means you either get hit with a situational species debuff, a visible mutation, or in worst cases, death. Of course, before he even attempts it, he'll need a nanite production lab and a programming module."
"We can get him both," one of the watching doctors offered, reminding Hugh the video call was still connected. "We already have a production lab unit here and I can call in some favors to scan a programming module."
"Try to have them by morning," Hugh advised before ducking back into his Vault. This time, he searched his gear for items he wanted to equip for himself. The self-regenerating Celestial Armor set was very tempting, but he didn't think he had the strength to wield it yet.
The Moon Boots from Pirouette, a platforming game, had far more promise. By taking the iconic knee-bent pose while midair, he could create a platform under his feet to save him from death by falling. He stored those in his Book's inventory to put on later.
He also had the Prince's Circlet from Fallen Erd, an RPG where every character was demi-human. In the game, wearing it increased his charisma by two hundred points—halfway to max cap. In Thrive, it gave him the ability to communicate with animals. Hugh put it on his forehead, then pushed it back so it became a headband.
The black cloak of Roma offered an increased deflection chance against sneak attacks while the belted, leather pants from Ninjas Vs Tanks offered a hundred points of comfort and ten to dexterity. He found a similar set for Dex so they could ditch the flashy Robes of Affluence, but stored everything in his inventory until after they could bathe.
Shields and swords were a useless to him right now, but the wand of Magnus Primeval reduced the weight of his Book by two hundred kilograms—four hundred and forty pounds—and increased his magical stamina reservoir by five hundred points. He equipped that sucker immediately, sending his original wand into his inventory for safe keeping.
The improved Book Tech immediately took over, making it hover above his hands.
Hugh avoided looking at the Legendary guns and rifles he owned, saving that particular search for a lot later after he figured out how to get a steady supply of ammunition. He didn't like the idea of firing a gun, but he knew he'd have to do it eventually. Too many other players would be using them, as well as grenades and missile launchers.
The scroll wall was a little harder to peruse. He had a lot of Legendary spells and Books. Some were completely useless to him, such as Diamante Devil, which would summon a incubus to serve him. It was originally from an erotic game, so how the incubus would serve was insinuated, but he could imagine the outcome if he used it.
In the end, he picked out four spells in total to store in his inventory until he could play around with the combinations—a Fast Grow spell named 'Colossal,' 'Summon Water,' 'Quick Summon Kekkai Barrier', and 'Animate Earth'.
On his way out, he grabbed the Holiday Legendary 'Maia's Cornucopia'. With it, he could summon an entire Thanksgiving dinner a total of five times. He also stored 'Jack Frost's Snow Globe', which could trigger a blizzard when broken. It was a one-time use Legendary, but it could come in handy if he needed to make a quick escape from dire odds. And, as an afterthought, he stored the 'Beacon of Babylon', which would bespell the surrounding area to produce abundant crops with less work and half the normal resource costs. He wouldn't use the original, but he would have his NPCs study it so they could put Beacons on every field without him needing to worry about visiting players stealing them.
When he exited the vault, he didn't look much different than when he entered, but he had huge promises for tomorrow resting in his Book. Frankie looked like he was in the middle of a serious discussion with his colleagues, so Hugh used his Book to dismiss his Vault door and gently interrupted to say, "I'm going to use the room next door to log in. Let me know when you're ready to go."
Frankie absentmindedly nodded and went back to arguing something about the ethics of surgery on a five year old. Hugh didn't know what they were talking about, but it didn't sound like they were talking about fixing a cleft lip. He knew it was pointless to try to figure it out, too, once he heard the words 'Orbital Bone'. His high school anatomy class had been too long ago for him to remember which bone that was, much less how it could be altered by a cosmetic surgeon.
It was almost a relief to retreat out the door, marveling at how the discussion cut off once the thin glass closed behind him and Dex.
Going to the room across the hall, Hugh hit the intercom to summon the holographic woman, Aimlee, back. She appeared in the center of the room with a smile on her face and immediately said, "How may I assist you today?"
"I just need to know if it's okay if I use this room?" Hugh asked. "Do I need to reserve it first?"
"Reserving a room at the front desk is ideal, but I can register it from here since there is no one currently requesting a teleconferencing room." She blinked. "There we go. The room has been reserved under your name. Is there anything else I can do for you today?"
"That's it, thanks," he replied. She once again disappeared, leaving only Dex and Hugh in the room.
Hugh walked over to the computer terminal and pressed his hand to the scanner to log in. The attached screen flickered a moment, then showed him a copy of his home cloud. Much like Frankie, Hugh didn't bother sitting down. He went straight to his Net feed and initiated a link.