Zoey admired her work. Her 9mm Custom was the framework of the weapon, with the Mk1 Prototype Armament formed around it. Following her will and direction, the metal had formed around the 9mm Custom to reinforce the barrel. The entire thing had been lengthened and reinforced making it heavier and the receiver had been reinforced as well, making it quite a bit stronger than it was.

The changes would let her use her magic more easily to boost the power of her shots if needed. It wasn't a significant change, but the fact that she was able to use the Mk1 in this way was the important part. She knew that the 9mm Custom could only take her so far. Eventually she would have to replace it.

Opening her interface, Zoey placed the Mk1 and the 9mm into her inventory. As she did, a new menu suddenly blinked into existence on her interface. She opened it and surprisingly discovered that she now had a menu that would allow her to use the interface to design new configurations for the Mk1 Prototype Armament. She could also save her designs and apply them as she wished! The caveat was that she could only do this in the interface menu. Of course she could always do it the way she had first done it, but the effort required was not practical if she could use her interface.

Her interface was the amazing part here. No matter what happened it was able to adapt and provide some function to her that was useful. For that she was thankful. After familiarizing herself with the new, aptly named Mk1 menu, she went back to her inventory. She still had some items that needed attention.

She selected the book and pulled it from the inventory to take a look at it. It was a completely unmarked black book with red bindings. Opening it up, she found nothing written on the pages of the book, only blank paper. Puzzled, she inspected the book further, but found no clues about the book or its origin.

She opened her interface and pulled up her inspection menu to see if the book was anything special.

[ITEM: Heritage Manuscript

[DESCRIPTION: A book of unknown origin. Marking this book with your blood will bring forth a technique perfectly tailored for your specific Heritage.

This could be very useful to Zoey. She still had no idea how to use the transformation that her Dark Star Runic Blood had. She remembered how amazingly powerful it had been when she saw the video of herself fighting the enemy back on Gaia. If this book could get her some insight on how to unlock the transformation it would be a good thing for her.

But right now she wanted to look at the other items in her inventory first. She placed the Heritage Manuscript back to her inventory and pulled out the egg-like sphere. She analyzed the object with the inspection and once again was amazed by her luck.

[ITEM: Heritage Mimic Egg

[DESCRIPTION: An egg developed to provide a unique familiar to a magic user. The familiar requires blood from the owner and will develop into a creature that is permanently linked to the owner. It is impossible to predict what creature will hatch from the egg.

So, if she fed the egg with her blood she would get a pet that was linked to her? Another amazing thing had dropped into her lap. Zoey could not deny that she was slightly excited by this idea. She could not remember ever owning a pet back on Gaia, but she absolutely had a desire for a pet. She decided to mark the egg right away. She did not know how long it would take to hatch, so she wanted to start the process now.

Using her knife, she cut into her palm and let the blood drip onto the egg. As the blood made contact, an extremely complex and intricate rune formed on the egg's surface with her blood. There was a brief hum of magic energy, and the bloody rune faded into the egg's shell. She wrapped the cut on her palm and picked up the egg, noticing that it was quite warm now after the event had taken place. She did feel a strange feeling, as if she was somehow connected to the egg. It was a strange feeling that she could not explain the feeling, but it felt quite natural.

Zoey decided not to put the egg back into her inventory, instead placing it inside her shirt next to her chest. If there was a living being inside the egg now, she did know what effect the storage ring's space would have on it. Besides, it felt nice to have it near her.

The final object she had left to inspect was the leather bracer. Pulling it from her inventory, she took a closer look at the item before using her interface on it. It was made from a very soft leather that felt supple to the touch. It had two metal strips riveted to the leather that when the bracer was worn would protect the top and outside portions of the forearm. The metal strips were also engraved with magical runes. Once she was finished looking at it, Zoey opened her inspection screen and pulled up the description of the item.

[ITEM: Crystal Claw Bracer

[DESCRIPTION: Although this item is intended for protection, if the magic of the bracer is activated it will deploy a magical claw that can pierce and slice through foes with ease.

Zoey was curious how it worked, so she strapped the bracer to her right arm and activated the array to test it. When she did, the two metal plates on the bracer lit up with a blue glow and a transparent, blue claw appeared out of the array. It looked like the sharp claw of some massive creature, with a wicked point and a predatory curve along its length. It was quite long too, extending about a meter ahead of her fist when extended. It also was able to retract back and extend out in a flash, making it an extremely fast attack that could also catch someone off guard if used correctly. The best part was that she would be able to wield her handgun while it was active. This would be a nice addition to her kit.

Now that all that was out of the way, Zoey wanted to take a look at her shield array and repair it. She also needed to apply the Mittra Regen rune to her gear so she would be able to heal in and out of combat.

So she opened her interface and got to work as the sun inched its way through the sky.