Skim through the manual

Got plenty of time in the world, so testing this thing out could be reserved for later. Plus, it would be more useful to have a better understanding of how this thing works. So, I spent good couple minutes reading through the PDF; enough so that I had to grab chair from upstairs so I wouldn't have to stand so awkwardly. Checked up on the pets, they were fine and seemed to have calmed down - they were busy on the couch napping so I didn't bother them much. Once I set the chair down and sat down, I pondered on what I've learned so far.

The replica machine is a thorough one with what it could do. A user could use a preset based on existing characters from various IPs or create an original character; these all scaled from stuff like Community or Bocchi the Rock with perfectly normal human beings to straight up aliens from Mass Effect or Star Trek. If a preset was chosen, the user could still edit it further and those edits can get real granular. Libido strength, body characteristics, personality, hell you could change reality itself to fit a backstory for this replica. Real powerful stuff, I tell ya.

But the most interesting feat of the machine was the ability for the user to edit themselves. Like, full on character customization and all that - the same kind of stuff you'd see from MMORPGs or Soulsborne games. Want to have blue anime hair that's as spiky as Yugi's? The machine can do that. Change a fundamental part of your personality and mind with only a few keystrokes? That could be easily done. Change you sex or even go full package of both male and female sex? Hell yeah, easy peasy lemon squeezy.

That little tidbit was what really got me thinking what to do next.

Given that, again, I lived in the rural US with nearest neighbor being a mile away - not to mention the road is as rural as it gets - I wouldn't need to be concerned with other people. Maybe my pets but hopefully they'll still recognize me if I go ahead with what I was thinking. A few clicks brought me to the profile of the user, me, and I could see the option for me to "edit" the profile. I spent only a second before I went and clicked on it, and the screen swapped to something that... looked like someone took Fromsoftware's usual character creation screen and combined it with those from MMORPGs like FFXIV. Nothing too confusing but goddamn that was alot of stuff.

Thankfully there was a simple mode and an option to use a preset as a template, which made things simple. I put the simple mode toggle aside and opened up the preset selection, which brought me again to the catalog. I hemmed and hawed as I browsed my choices.