Bodymods are typically somewhat inexpensive for a Samurai just starting on their journey.

But for those of us where the ability to change your form into something different is like the coolest water in the desert sun.

They’re the most expensive and important purchase we tend to make before getting to Class III catalogues.

-Excerpt from an interview with the late Samurai Asuriel, 2039

Yes, we do seem to be consistently getting interrupted when this discussion comes to the forefront.

I glanced around with a scowl on my face, daring the universe to interrupt a third time. Once I was sure there was nothing in sight, I began moving down the blood soaked walkway to make sure nothing else needed messing with.

Vulgoran body modding technology utilizes specific equipment that transmutes matter into any desired energy and shape including living tissue without harming the patient. This process is incredibly quick with the human body when no body mods are included. For your example, it would be around ninety minutes to two and a half hours to bring your body in line with a cisgender human female while bringing its health and physical fitness and ability to the level of Olympic athletes.

I nodded, “Makes sense, less stuff to worry about other than just flipping one switch basically.”

Indeed, human biology is remarkably simple considering all the quirks it has. As for the transition into a Vulgoran body, and other various bodymods I recommend for future proofing, the process slows down drastically while becoming much more expensive.

I noticed a worm crawling over to investigate my footsteps, so I reached a foot out and squished it. As my counter ticked up Pyri continued:

At minimum the primary machine needed will cost around fifteen-thousand points. You will need some form of dream learning to make sure you don’t need to relearn how to walk upon completion with the base process costing one-hundred-fifty points, and various modules clocking a minimum of one-thousand-two-hundred-fifty. As for body mods, you will need the Vulgoran Body Template for four-hundred-seventy-five points, various bioenhancement seeds to further improve your physical form from the template for forty-five-hundred points, various elements will be needed for the creation of cybernetics and augments to your form for around seventy-five more points.

Finally reaching the end of the walkway and finding nothing else, well, other than the gigantic hole in the wall, I turned around and began walking back. “Okay this all sounds relatively cheap and all, what are the last bits?”

I advise acquiring a specific organ for two-hundred-fifty points that generates electricity that can be distributed to the retractable claws at the end of all Vulgoran digits allowing you some way of defending yourself even without a proper weapon in reach. This organ would also be able to power any and all future cybernetic implants.

I raised an eyebrow as I asked, “What if I somehow exceed that power production?”

If you somehow can outpace that organ and not be mostly metal by that point, we will most likely add a second organ, then replace the first with one that is more robust.

I snorted and shook my head, “Yeah I see your point, at that point I’d be better off going full brain in a jar or something.”

Indeed. Now, the final thing is arguably the most important part. Power. You will need to buy and connect multiple Vulgoran batteries and/or generators to power the machine as it is far too energy intensive for your local grid to handle. The cheapest option would be four generators at five-hundred a piece, and six batteries at one-seventy-five each.

I came to a stop as the true costs of everything sunk in, “That’s like…”

Around twenty-five-thousand for everything, if you also include new equipment sized to your new form and the catalogues I did not list. This is the cheapest selection with what you have currently unlocked. Class II technology would be even better but that requires tokens and are much more expensive. I do not find those options reasonably feasible for a quick time frame right now.

I covered my mouth with my palm as I thought. It was incredibly daunting to have the raw numbers laid out in front of me. Sure, I had all these aliens and their points to myself, but twenty-five grand was still an extreme amount of points right now. It might as well have been across the ocean for me.

“Pyri, instead of worrying about costs right now, can we design my new body now?”

That would require the template, and Class I Vulgoran Biological Sciences for a combined seven-hundred-seventy-five points.

I gave a weak smile, ‘Might as well get them now then, since I’ll have to buy them anyways.”

Understood.

New Purchases! Class I Vulgoran Biological Sciences 300 Vulgoran Biological Template 475 Points Reduced To: 436

Rather than a box or anything, my glasses flickered a message to find somewhere comfortable to sit. I walked back into the feed mixing room and flipped the bucket we used to measure mineral additives for the feed upside down and sat on it.

I practically felt like a kid again.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Opening the message brought up a nondescript image of a Vulgoran woman. Who was, uhhhh, not wearing anything. They had some similarities to humans with their bipedal nature, but in addition to the ears and tail, their legs were digitigrade, and had pads on the bottom of their feet. They also had a light dusting of short brown fur over most of their body (except for the insides of their hands) which got darker the closer it got to their hands and feet.

This is the basic female template, they are modeled to be in peak physical condition without any sort of body modding whatsoever.

Their legs flickered.

Unless you truly want to have your body match, I advise a mix of human and Vulgoran starting with the legs. Vulgora and their native planet both have weaker gravity than Earth so the specie’s legs are built for bounding quickly over the landscape. While this is still applicable to Earth, I believe using a more human template for the legs would be more reasonable. You will however, retain their sharp, retractable, and conductive claws.

With a nod from me she continued.

Likewise you will retain more human-like arms and hands with those same claws for sake of convenience. These are the two primary changes I would make, alongside the removal of the body hair due to your dysphoria and a few other changes to make the shape more human in nature. Are there any other changes you would like to make?

My hand returned to covering my mouth as I thought. The Vulgoran had changed to look more like a stereotypical foxgirl, but with a floofier tail and those fennec reminiscent ears.

After a few minutes I had a small grocery list of changes. “Ok so big thing here, can you tweak her height down to five-four? I want to be slightly small. For the hair and fur can we go with like an icy blue and white color scheme, and have the hair reach my shoulders in its natural state if grown out?”

As I spoke the changes flowed over her, and I could feel a sense of longing pulling at my core.

One last thing was also gnawing at me, it- oh! The question about my eyesight from earlier!

My eyesight being as bad as a bat’s was always a point of contention in my past. It wasn’t truly debilitating, but going without my glasses pretty much destroyed any complex work I planned to do until I put them back on. That didn’t even include the last part- I couldn’t have augs installed whatsoever. As far as I knew, it was caused by my eyes rejecting them, and if they tried to force the issue it could lead to a reaction that would cost me my eyes altogether. Hence my AR Glasses.

Nana wouldn’t let me get surgery to fix them on account of some sort of ‘family spirit’. Now, I had the chance to circumvent her demand for me to keep my ‘special eyes’. I wouldn’t need to wear glasses anymore!

But as annoying as they were sometimes, my self image practically required them.

They felt right.

“Hey uhh Pyri?’ I bit my lip nervously, ‘What if I don’t want my eyes necessarily fixed? Like removing the aug sickness is a given, and improving my eyesight so losing my glasses wouldn’t be a direct impact to my combat capabilities, but like… do we have to fix them all the way?”

Spark… you do realize that you could just wear your current pair and subsequent glasses regardless?

I suddenly became very interested with the way my boots made tracks in the dust as my face began burning. “I ummm, may or may not have forgotten that option.”

Pyri spoke in a voice thick with barely controlled laughter.

Well luckily for you I won’t! Now let me adjust a few things a bit further to match your genotype.

She shifted one last time and I gasped. It-

It was her.

I would look like her.

And she would be me.

I was only barely able to stop myself from jumping up and dancing around in the dust.

But I damn well wouldn’t stop the plethora of thank yous directed at my AI partner.

You’re very welcome Spark, but I do believe you should be a bit more quiet. You are still in an active antithesis raid after all.

Metaphorical tail between my legs, I got myself under control, and began shifting the dust around with my boot. Dust that was explosive and coating everywhere in the room.

“Pyri, it feels like a waste to let all this explosive material the antithesis left us go to waste.”

Spark dear, you are quite literally playing with fire. Are you sure you want to burn this building down? The methane inside will easily catch.

“Oh I’m sure. The harvestore is close to empty, because we were going to bring up some of the grain stored at Benson’s to fill it anyway. Besides, I’m sure my explosives catalogue has a substance that can put out fires?”

It does, however if you are doing this, I recommend preventing the spread outright rather than mitigating it later.

“And how do I do that, oh wise Pyridae?”

You prevent it with C-Foam you dork.

Snickering, I motioned for her to continue.

C-Foam is a specialty substance that has a wide variety of uses. It is primarily used as a reinforcement agent or as an adhesive against antithesis. It works by having nanites dispersed through it which will spread the foam and then harden it once in position. It is also fireproof.

“Ok now what do I do with it?”

You’ll need to coat the north and south walls with two grenades each, then use one each on the harvestore, and the propane tank just to the south of it, and after laying the trap hitting the propane tank next to the dryer. I also recommend laying a C-Foam remote mine at the two entrances to keep antithesis from fleeing the inferno.

“Sounds like a plan to me. Add an airhorn to it and buy em!”

New Purchases! C-Foam Grenade x7 21 C-Foam Mine x2 8 Class 0 Airhorn 30 Points Reduced To: 406

A box teleported onto the floor without kicking up too much dust. Opening it I found the grenades which were tubes with a squarish hand guard over top the hand trigger. Next to them was a pair of hexagonal mines and an aerosol canister with a sound funnel on it.

At Pyri’s instruction I began reinforcing the walls. The grenades practically burst with the rapidly expanding stuff in a shotgun blast. Painting the walls with several yellowish blobs that spread out and covered the wall with web like tendrils over any weakness or crack in them.

The propane tank looked a bit more bulbous than anything, and seeing it covered reminded me of one fairly important detail.

“Pyri, how do I wash this stuff off?”

Hydrogen peroxide.

I was only a little bit stunned at the mundane answer. “I thought I would have to, like, use some sort of specific chemical mixture to get rid of it.”

That is indeed a chemical compound, but I will admit that it is quite a mundane solution, and one the antithesis don’t have access to unless they mutate a Model into producing it. Any model that could produce it would already be strong enough to just brute force through it. Now I must ask, what are you doing?

She asked that of me as I was laying a small string I scavenged from the mixing room out the door, naturally after tying it to a spark lighter I frankly shouldn’t have had in this tool belt.

Disorganization saving my ass once again.

“Oh this?” I said as the lighter was pushed into the gooey wall so the sparks would shower the dust. “No reason to spend points if I don’t need to.”

With that I pulled the air horn out and blared it out the door towards the finishing barns.

“Now come and get some barbecue, you overgrown weeds!”