NeXT Implant - 125khz not working?

Alright, not sure what ive done. Ive been messing with it a lot today. I also upgraded the firmware on the proxmark.

But now ive been able to fairly consistently get a read on the lf chip. However after it reads the chip, it immediately starts checking for keys and then pops up with a “No Valid Key”. Then gives me the option to try to sniff a key, or to enter one manually.

Is this telling me the chip is blank at the moment and i need to write one? or is there some other key necessary to write to the chip and this is why it’s failing? im not finding much on these forums or google about “No Valid Key” issues.