Once everything had settled down, Zoey took a closer look at the tree in the center of her essence lake. The trunk was now as thick as her waist and it was twice as tall as she was. The petrified, crystalline outer surface of the tree was clearer and had less impurities, allowing the inner core of the tree to show better. The core of intertwined deep blue and molten red was a striking combination that could be seen under the surface, and the two colors seemed to glow with radiance, lighting up the surface of her essence lake.

Zoey had no way of knowing what other people saw in their inner world, but the sight of her own was quite spectacular now that the crystal tree had grown bigger. She wondered how big it would get.

Now that the excitement of ranking up was over it was time to check her abilities. She pulled up her interface to check the changes.

[ZOEY: Rank 3

[INNATE TALENTS:

[1. DARK STAR RUNIC BLOOD

[ABILITIES:

[a. Transformation: Trigger Unknown

[b. Ability Assimilation

[c. Ice Venom Rune

[d. Null Field Rune

[e. Mittra Regen Rune

[f. *NEW* Shadow Blade Rune

[g. *NEW* Ice Armor Rune

[2. AETHER ENGINEER

[a. Able to design and fabricate items from aether magic. Adding matter to construct will reduce [design cost.

[b. Able to repair and modify items created with Aether Engineer ability.

[c. *NEW* Able to repair and modify items not created with Aether Engineer ability.

Like she had anticipated, the had received two new runes she could use. She would integrate them with her gear later on. The unexpected part here was that she could now modify items that she had not created! Things like her Crystal Claw Bracer and the Mk1 Prototype Armament. This would be very useful to her and her gear. Next she checked on her triad alignment.

[HERITAGE AND ELEMENTAL AFFINITY INFO

[HERITAGE| Dark Star Runic Heritage: Tier Unknown | Gaia Human: Tier 3 Harmonic

[ELEMENTAL AFFINITY | Cold: Harmonization 35% | Dark: Harmonization 35% | Unknown: Harmonization 5%

Her elemental affinity had increased across the board thanks to the essence stones she had absorbed and Zoey was quite happy with the changes. Her shield array would benefit from the Ice Armor rune and the Shadow Blade she could likely integrate with her weapons somehow. Her gun didn't seem like a good fit for it, but maybe modifying the Crystal Claw bracer would work.

Finished checking her abilities, Zoey exited her inner world and stretched her body. Somehow she felt, stronger. She would have to test her new capabilities at some point.

"Zoey! You're awake!" Nito excitedly greeted her once he noticed she was up. "You had me worried there!"

Zoey looked at him a little confused, "Why? What's going on? Did something happen?"

Nito waved his hands, "No, no. Its just that you have been absorbing essence stones for about eighteen hours now."

Zoey raised her eyebrows in surprise. She had not expected that she had been in her inner world for that long! The passage of time there felt a little out of whack, but eighteen hours was a long time, about two hours per essence stone. By that logic, a Rank 3 stone would take about three hours for her to absorb.

"What about you? Did you make any progress?" Zoey asked Nito.

He grinned in response, then he snapped his fingers and completely disappeared. Zoey guessed this was the same technique he had been using when they had been hunting the Ice Venom Sky Snakes, only now she could not sense him at all! Seems like he had finally managed to become more comfortable with the technique and was able to utilize it fully.

Nito was a little disappointed when he popped back into sight right in front of Zoey and she didn't have any reaction at all, almost as if she had been expecting it all along. Zoey only laughed at his disappointment as she headed outside. She had been able to notice his movement despite him being invisible. He would have to work harder if he wanted to avoid detection completely!

Once Zoey was outside, she found a comfortable spot under a tree nearby and brought out the egg she had been keeping close. She could still feel the link to whatever was inside, and it felt stronger now that it had before. Zoey cut her thumb and dripped some blood for the egg as she normally did, not really expecting anything to happen.

Imagine her shock when the egg started to vibrate the instant her blood touched it! The shell began to heat up and Zoey had the strangest feeling that something inside the egg wanted out! A moment later a series of spiderweb cracks spread across the eggshell. Zoey hurriedly placed it on the ground and waited in anticipation for the egg to hatch. She remembered that the egg's description had said that there was no way of knowing what would be inside, so she was a little excited to finally see.

After a few minutes of shaking, rocking back and forth, and more cracks on the surface, the egg finally cracked open. Out onto Zoey's open palms fell a small creature covered in soft, black fur. It had a pointy tail as long as its body, and four little legs that ended on soft, cat-like paws. It also had a pair of bat-like wings sprouting from its back that looked too small for the body. The little creature's head was also covered in soft black fur, and was a strange combination of dragon and cat? The overall structure of the head was that of a cat with a feline eye shape and ears, but the jaw and teeth were stronger and more robust making it look like a cat-dragon of some kind.

At the moment the little creature's eyes were still closed, but Zoey could see the rise and fall of its breathing as it rested in her hands. The mental link she had felt with the creature was stronger now, almost to the point where she felt like the tiny thing was a part of her. She could feel through the link that it was tired after breaking through the egg, and all it wanted was to sleep. Zoey felt a strange sense of wonder towards this little creature that she had a connection with that was now sleeping peacefully in her hands.

Somehow she would now have to come up with a name for her new friend!