Silvia took her foot off the pedal, watching the sewing machine's needle slow down. With an excited smile, she took the shirt she just finished off her table and held it out to take a closer look, "Perfect!"

  It was part of the latest outfit she was putting together for Ryan. He was heading back into the dungeon tomorrow. Though Silvia and Modak both wanted to join, they obviously couldn't just yet. Modak's arm and ribs were still broken, and neither of the two had a way to participate in combat or defend themselves.

  Ryan's condition for taking the two of them was that they wouldn't make a dungeon dive harder on him. That was why Silvia was currently learning how to handle a gun, while Modak was focusing on recovery and working on some new ways to employ his magic synthesis. But that wasn't all. They still wanted to take their position as 'Aides' seriously, and were doing whatever they could to help out.

  As such, Modak was using his time doing research in Ryan's stead and giving him notes on all the things that he wanted to know, basically acting as the 'Man in the chair', while Silvia was fully diving into making equipment for him and the spirits.

  Of course, Ryan himself didn't need a weapon anymore because of the 'Horn of Shapeless Water', but he definitely still needed things to defend himself, especially with how reckless Ryan tended to be. And that was part of what Silvia had just finished. The amusement park dungeon tended to be clad in thin mist and was generally quite cold, according to Ryan, so while it was the middle of summer, she had made a hoodie for him.

  There were high-strength zippers on each shoulder so that he could remove the sleeves as needed, in case he wanted to use Tiar's ability to recreate a piece of Maximus' armour. Of course, the fabric that the hoodie was made of was also something specifically developed for heroes, dungeoneers, soldiers, or even firefighters. It was extremely resistant to cuts and even fire. If it was hot enough for this fabric to burn, then you had way more stuff to worry about, basically. It was also incredibly breathable, so it wouldn't actually work too well to warm someone up, which was a good compromise for summer. Plus, it was incredibly light, so that was a benefit, though Ryan told Silvia not to worry about that.

  Since he wasn't the most active part of combat anyway, he didn't need to worry about weight too much, so Silvia added another layer of a different material on the inside. The outer fabric was fairly thin, so Silvia could add this without issues. It was a flexible crystal mesh that acted as a support for any sort of magic flowing through it.

  Of course, this wasn't anything directly beneficial for Ryan, since he wasn't using any magic that could even interact with this mesh, but it should boost some of the effects that Silvia wanted to place onto this quite a bit. That was why the trousers that she made also had the same crystal mesh in them.

  But these two parts were only really the 'base' of what Silvia was making right now. She had everything on a mannequin next to her. On top of these, she placed a number of belts so that Ryan could access all his items properly. On the main belt, there was of course the slot for the horn, and then Ryan would have a small bag on his left hip that he could hold different smaller items in, like those healing pills that he gave Silvia one of. The secondary belts had slots for different items for the spirits. Mostly, this was small items for Maximus that had been made by the metal workers.

  Silvia did try to take up metalwork as well, but it was a completely different medium compared to what she worked in so far, so she had to build up a bit of confidence before she could make anything that could be considered 'art' by her skills. That was the main condition for her abilities to work, after all.

  So instead, she mostly did some detail-work. The metal-workers were told to just make the base item, and then Silvia came in and carved or painted some details onto the items so that her abilities could take hold. The same thing happened with the pieces of metal armour that were going to be part of Ryan's outfit.

  He would have the metal vambrace, gauntlets, and greaves of a regular knight's armour. Basically, they were made to look as much like Maximus' armour as possible, though Silvia came in and tried to modernise it to fit more with Ryan's style, and even added some influences of Tiar's patterns onto it all to mix in well with the whole image that Silvia wanted to achieve.

  The shoes that were part of the outfit were a little different as well. They were the regular sorts of sneakers that Ryan tended to wear, but parts of it were swapped out for metal plates, and even the parts that weren't replaced were steel-reinforced. It took Silvia a good week to design it all, and the metalworkers hurried up and prepared all the parts that Silvia couldn't make, but she was the one that put it all together into the final 'Urban Knight's Sneakers' that were proudly at the bottom of the mannequin right now.

  After pulling the hoodie onto the mannequin, Silvia added the vambraces and gauntlets onto its hands, then placed the belts into their positions.

  The patterns, logos and details on the hoodie and trousers lined up well, so did everything on the metal parts and the belts... everything seemed to be looking great. But there was something missing. Something that still felt... off. Like there was one last detail that could tie it all together and boost the effect that she wanted to place onto this.

  Right now, the armour's main effect was to copy Maximus' defence ability. Once it was deployed, it should allow Ryan to fill the armour with some of his mana to create a protective layer. That was the effect that was placed onto each individual piece. But together, the whole 'outfit' was supposed to evoke the image of a knight; specifically, Maximus. This was because Silvia was hoping to be able to copy Maximus' 'martial knowledge' skill. Basically, to give Ryan some kind of combat-ability boost. Something like... movement correction. Though, the more Silvia understood that skill, the less possible it seemed. But there had to be something else she could add. Some other boost she could give Ryan.

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  She looked around the room. Silvia had been super busy trying out her skills with a lot of different crafts to see what effects she could cause with what. And then, her eyes got caught on an opaque white bottle filled with resin.

  "I've got it," Silvia grinned, moving over to her desk. She had seen Maximus' core, and could remember its colour perfectly. She had tons of alcohol ink, and if she got the mixture right, she should be able to replicate the colour pretty well. Beside that, she had chains, beads, clay and liquid silicon she could use to make moulds... Maybe this could be the last piece.

  With a slight yawn, Ryan stepped off his bike. He's been doing prep-work for today all night. But he should be awake enough to not jeopardize this. After making sure that he was properly wearing the outfit that Silvia made for him, he summoned all the spirits.

  He gave the special-made backpack to Gaia and made sure it was properly affixed to her stone body, and gave Maximus a shield from one of the belts hanging off him. For his weapon, Maximus chose to start out with Granfell.

  Gregor's machines were sitting solidly on Gaia's back as well, and Jester was just excitedly perched on Ryan's shoulder that he could jump off of at a moment's notice when needed.

  "Everyone ready?" Ryan asked, and the four spirits nodded their heads. He stepped up to the amusement park's gates, using the key he got from Runar to unlock the gate. After stepping inside, he locked the gate again, and quickly walked over to the nearby kiosk to grab himself a map.

  It hadn't changed a ton, but there were some small differences compared to the last time he was here, "Alright, let's first head to the mascot area. Just to practice with Jester in the formation. Plus, I want to test out the outfit that Silvia made for me," Ryan pointed out, starting to head forward, already making some plans for other areas they could head to soon.

  Obviously, Ryan wasn't going to be here all day every day again, but he did want to at least farm enough coins to buy all the items for the spirits. He would need a ton of points for that. But all the extra items seemed pretty useful, so Ryan didn't want to lose out either. Plus, he was sure that there was going to be some hidden reward somewhere that the others hadn't found yet.

  Sure, most of the awakened combatants in the family that lived around New Riverside were brought here, so the family did know a lot about this dungeon, but it didn't seem like they found every little secret yet.

  Soon, they had made their way to the plaza where the mascots roamed around. It didn't take long for Ryan to find the first target either.

  "First, Gregor, Gaia, and Jester, stay back. I wanted to try out something with Maximus," Ryan said, carefully placing the spirits onto Gaia's backpack. Ryan already debriefed all of them on the plans, so they knew about this beforehand already.

  There was a reason why Ryan wanted to face the mascot with just Maximus first. It was because of this outfit. It felt great to move in, and Ryan had already filled it up with as much mana as he could to increase its defensive capabilities. But there was another effect that only came to be when Ryan put on the necklace that Silvia had made. It was made using cheap, everyday materials, and on its own, it literally had no effect. But when Ryan wore every part of this outfit, including the necklace, a sort of 'synergy' was supposed to appear.

  Specifically, it was supposed to boost the 'Spirit Link' skill, strengthening the connection between Ryan and Maximus. The outfit itself was already inspired by the knight spirit, but with the necklace inspired by Maximus' spirit core, it seemed like everything was pushed right into place. Ryan closed the clasp around his neck, and a certain sensation quickly came over him. It was like a pulse of magic suddenly left his body, while another entered him. It was this constant sense of a 'link' trying to be formed between him and Maximus. It was off-putting like this, since beside the initial attempt, the link couldn't come to be just yet. That was why Ryan wasn't wearing the necklace until now. While it didn't have this ability on its own, it basically just 'completed' the picture.

  He then activated the skill, and the link between him and Maximus formed quicker than ever before. It was like a deeper connection than they had before. Ryan could already read the spirits' intentions pretty well, but now, he didn't have to guess or think. He just knew exactly what Maximus was trying to do. What he was thinking and feeling. There was already a semblance of this with the regular link, but this was way, way stronger.

  It was like a step before telepathy. He didn't have to even tell Maximus to rush out toward the nearby Mascot, nor did Maximus need to tell Ryan what he was planning to do. Ryan followed behind the knight, holding the horn in his hand. As he did, water flowed out from it and turned into the form of a larger war-hammer. It was heavy and unhandy, but Ryan was trying to use a wide variety of weapons for now to see if anything would stick.

  Maximus jumped toward the mascot, and the moment he did, Ryan 'unsealed' him. The knight kept his momentum, but his weight more than doubled. He hit the mascot with a heavy impact, cutting its arm off in a swift motion. Startled, the mascot swung at Maximus, who held the shield, which was a little small right now but still usable, in front of his body. He was thrown away by the strike but didn't seem to have taken much damage.

  While Maximus made sure to land properly, Ryan took advantage of the fact that the mascot was completely focused on Maximus right now. He tightened his grip on the horn and started swinging. Digging his feet into the ground, Ryan used all his strength to pull the hammer toward the monster. The side of its hip was hit, right where its ribs would be, and Ryan could feel and hear its bones cracking under the impact.

  Of course, the mascots were basically undead; they didn't feel pain, so blunt attacks weren't all that useful right now. But Ryan wanted to know how 'realistic' their bodies actually were. With its hip destroyed, it shouldn't be able to move as well as before. And just as Ryan thought, as the mascot tried to take a step with that exact leg, it wasn't able to support its own weight and fell down onto the ground. By then, Maximus had come back and stabbed his sword into the mascot's eye, before Ryan unsealed the spirit again. The sword doubled in size alongside Maximus, and tore through the mascot's brain.

  "Perfect," Ryan grinned slightly. A combo attack like this would have been possible otherwise, but never this smoothly. Maximus and Ryan hadn't even glanced at each other throughout the whole ordeal. If they could act like this even without Ryan wearing this whole outfit, then they would be able to react to an ambush way more easily.

  This was exactly why Richie was such a tough opponent. He was able to control multiple robots at the same time. Multiple opponents that didn't have to communicate with each other were tough even for highly-skilled fighters. They could set up tricks or plan ahead like no other team could. It was why Anders lost his defensive fight against Richie while trying to protect the bonfire, despite being a technically way stronger fighter.

  The fact that Ryan could link to multiple spirits at once now that the skill reached level 10 was already a great step toward that same direction. Now if the communication between him and the spirits could rise just a little bit more, they should be able to overwhelm way more powerful opponents more easily as well.

  Ryan leaned down and picked up the coin that was dropped by the mascot. But before then, it was time to practice with Jester in the team in the first place.

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