The Claw is preparing me for something, that much I am sure of. For what, I could not say, but it will be in my best interests to take precautions, in case I am forced to square off against the supernatural by myself. My greatest weapons at the moment are my mind, my years of physical training, and the Claw itself, unreliable as it can be at the moment. Improving my physical condition in a short timeframe will be a rather tall order, given the lengths I have already gone to, and the Claw is... unco-operative, at least at the moment. This leaves me with my mind, and while many a fool would take the use of their mind to mean honing it with new knowledge, the wise man hones their mind by truly putting it to work. The first dilemma, what am I likely to need facing off against supernaturals? Iron and Salt are a classic, known to drain power, cause burns, or just act as a distraction, they should be essential in my toolset. Holy Water should prove useful, for the subset of creatures weak to religious symbolism, and it can serve as an emergency water supply in a pinch, which leaves actual weaponry. Getting a silver blade through any form of security will be an issue, though I might be able to slip it inside the Claw's hollow interior, and it's much more versatile than dragging a wooden stake around, since the things only work on the damned vamps. The tooth the Claw picked up has some kind of magic on it, but trying to use it leaves me feeling like nails are scratching through my brain, trying to dig up things I don't wanna remember.

The Claw's dofferent now. I can feel the changes. It's stronger, in a way, sharper, more precise, but most of all, the damn thing's solid now. I gave it a test run against some concrete slabs and the damn thing hit like a jackhammer, I just kept pounding away and the Claw barely even felt it. Before, doing that sort of thing would feel an awful lot like just regular punching concrete, just a bit duller, cause of the metal and all, but this time, it just... didn't. The Claw's just gotten way tougher all of a sudden, and that ain't the only thing that's changed. I started noticing it on my last job, but my senses are getting sharper, way sharper. I was picking up stuff I'd ordinarily never even notice when looking around, and now I've started noticing that my hearing's sharper too. I ain't sure if it's whatever magic the Claw has spreading to me with these little power boosts it's getting or if going on these jobs is just making me better, but... I like it. Like, I really, really like it. My body feels better than it's done in years, and my old skills are coming back, the rust just flaking off no problem. It's addicting, the last job wasn't even particularly dangerous barring a couple moments, and Jericho got his arm back in the end anyway. Wish I'd had that option way back when, but the Claw's doing just fine. Better than fine, even, with the new upgrade. I just need to do a few more jobs, and I'll be better than I was even before my retirement. Just a few.