The shelves behind the clown monster were illuminated well, and Ryan looked at the vouchers propped up on small stands. While he was a little disappointed that there weren't any items for himself, he figured the only items that could be here for him were spirit cores, and Ryan doubted that the dungeon could simply create those from thin air. Either way, the fact that the dungeon can create items corresponding to any class was ridiculous.
"I'll have a Seed Voucher and a Weapon Voucher," Ryan said, picking out the cheapest option for each Maximus and Gaia, and the clown held its hand forward, as if waiting for something. Figuring it was waiting to be paid first, Ryan gave it the point card and then watched as the number was reduced from 487 down to 237. The clown quickly returned the card and then turned around, grabbing the two items that Ryan asked for.
"You've still got a lot of points. Just feel free to use them up," Runar pointed out, and Ryan shrugged lightly in response.
"I was going to keep them saved for when Jester properly joins us."
"By then, you'll probably have more than enough coins to buy whatever else you want. The amount of points you get per monster you kill depends on their level, and you were in the lowest-level area so far."
"Sure, but most of the points came from the area boss," Ryan pointed out, and Runar thought about it for a moment.
"I guess so, but still, you'll be fine. If need be, I'll go grab a bunch of coins for you and we buy out the store."
"If that works, why aren't we doing that in the first place?"
"Well, it's easier to progress if you're working toward a goal, right? You've been doing pretty well here in the dungeon, so I figured it's a good idea to have you keep coming here periodically. Especially since Gregor is also a combatant, you'll need to train him up a bit as well to be at the same level as the rest of you."
Ryan slowly nodded and looked inwardly at Maximus and Gaia.
'Which one of you wants another item?' he asked inwardly, and Maximus quickly shook his head, as if he was saying that he didn't need it right now. Or rather, he probably wanted Gaia to have it. Looking at the items that were offered, Ryan turned over to his uncle, "Uh, are we allowed to grow a tree on the roof?"
"... As long as it's not a massive one, I don't see why not? You're planning on going for the Sapling Voucher, right?"
"Mhm. Is that gonna be a problem?"
"Well, trees do take long to grow, even when they're magically enhanced. It should be fine at the very least until you're done with Uni," Runar pointed out, "Worst case, we just get you a house with a proper, spacious garden near the café."
Ryan looked at his uncle with a narrowed gaze, "I'm still weirded out by the fact that you can just... say stuff like that. Yeah, sure, let's just buy me a house with a garden in the most expensive part of the city."
"Okay, sure, we've got money, so what? I mean, what did you expect when you realized that I run a café that's basically only open every other day?" Runar asked with a raised brow, and Ryan was silent for a few moments.
"I've felt a bit awkward to ask this until now, but... do you think we could do something for my mom?"
"Yeah, sure, we can figure something out," Runar nodded immediately, patting his nephew on the back. With a bit of relief, Ryan looked back at the clown, buying the Sapling Voucher as well.
Ryan took a closer look at the three tickets, and they had a dotted line with 'tear here' written next to it. He should be able to store everything in the domains anyway, so Ryan quickly tore the tickets.
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[Random Seed Voucher has been redeemed - Three Random Seeds have been awarded]
-[Rock Melon Seeds]
-[Red Basil Seeds]
-[Radiant Tomato Seeds]
[Random Sapling Voucher has been redeemed - One Random Sapling has been awarded]
-[Golden Apple Tree Sapling]
[Random Weapon Voucher has been redeemed - One Random Weapon has been awarded]
-[Elemental Greatsword Granfell]
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Ryan watched as the items were placed right on the ground in front of him. Three small seed packets, a paper-wrapped sapling placed into a small plastic pot, as well as a small cardboard box containing the kit that was needed to build the sword. He quickly explained what the system window told him, and Runar listened curiously.
"Hm, interesting, alright. I've heard about Rock Melons, but neither Red Basil nor Radiant Tomatoes. And Golden Apples? I think they're some magical fruit that help with mana recovery, so that's incredibly useful," Runar pointed out, but Ryan was rather focused on something else. He was more curious about the greatsword, and he could feel Tiar wriggling excitedly on his left arm as well
"I think my Spirit Armament skill would work on the weapon Maximus got," Ryan pointed out, and Runar raised a brow.
"Wait, really? I guess it would. Do you want to try it out?"
"I'd have to build it first, but... kind of," Ryan responded, and Runar shrugged. He pulled out his pen-wand and wrote something on the ground. Just a moment later, the old wooden boards on the ground creaked and split open as roots pierced through them. The roots formed the shape of a table and a pair of chairs, one of which Runar quickly sat down on.
"... Magic really is convenient, huh?"
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"It has its upsides," Runar replied smugly, as Ryan squatted down. He put the small sapling and the seeds into the domain, something that was luckily still possible in their current state, and then grabbed the cardboard box with the sword.
Since this was a piece that belonged to Maximus, the knight quickly stepped out of his domain, standing on the table curiously as Ryan pulled out his tools from his bag. He carried them with him everywhere for emergencies, just in case he needed to repair either Maximus or Gaia. He didn't want them to have to wait until they were home while Ryan could get healed right away.
Ryan opened the box and pulled out the parts. It wasn't a very complicated thing to build; rather, it was quite simple and straightforward.
Though, that was something that Ryan expected, anyway. Most swords didn't have a particularly complex shape, after all. There were a fair amount of pieces though, being a greatsword that would probably be about Maximus' size once assembled.
Ryan quickly used his Spirit Construction skill and got started taking all the pieces out of the frames, trying to sort them a bit on the table. He didn't have the boxes that he usually sorted them into with him, after all. His skill was active for almost 30 minutes at this point, and with his dexterity at a whopping 1.72 and his intuition similarly high, Ryan was able to easily put the sword together before the half-hour was up.
The sword quickly took on a recognizable shape, and in the middle of putting it together, Ryan's curiosity got the better of him. Just to test it out, he ran one of the edge-pieces over some of the hairs exposed on his arm, and the edge cleanly cut through them. These pieces were incredibly sharp, so he should be careful with it.
Before long, Ryan finished assembling the sword. It was clearly a sword that belonged to Maximus, through and through. It was the same silver and red that his armour was. Clearly excited, more so than he ever had been about any of the weapons that the craftsmen had made for him, Maximus stared at the sword and Ryan quickly gave it to him. The knight's hand closed around the sword's handle, and he slowly waved it around, feeling the weight.
"So, what's the 'elemental' part?" Ryan wondered, and Maximus stared at the blade for a few moments. He jumped from the table, grasping his sword tightly with both hands. Ryan watched as Maximus took on a stance that he used a lot when fighting with a sword. He had a lot of very different styles of movement that he used for different situations, and something told Ryan that this sword could take advantage of that fact.
Maximus held the sword up above his head, swinging it down in a swift motion. With fast, tight angles, the knight swung the sword as the dust on the ground around him was pushed around. The more he moved, the more the air around him moved. It was clear that Maximus himself was just getting used to this as well. His aura was slowly filling out the sword as the Knight's Attack skill was activated, and at that point, the wind became even stronger as wisps of his aura were flowing out of the blade like they were carried along by a gust. One of Maximus' slashes managed to carry for quite a while, leaving a narrow scar in the wood of the wall.
And then, Maximus slowed down considerably. The motions of his sword became wider and smoother. It was like they were slower, but more intentional than before. The wind settled down, and instead, Ryan and his uncle watched as the sword's edge was enveloped in a thin veil of water. With every cut or stab, aura-infused streams shot forward, deepening the light cut in the wall.
When he was satisfied, Maximus' sword form changed again, this time becoming almost erratic and speeding up again. This time, the edge of the blade turned a bright red as it heated up, and flames followed behind every one of Maximus' movements.
One more time, Maximus' swordsmanship changed. The way he moved was like his sword suddenly became heavier. And it probably did; it was quickly enveloped in a layer of stone that seemed to appear out of nowhere, built up by Maximus' aura.
"Well, would you look at that," Runar grinned lightly, "I guess that would be the 'elemental' part. I wonder if that means all the weapons the craftsmen made are obsolete now."
Ryan quickly shook his head, "Maximus isn't the type to stick to just one weapon. This is definitely useful though... there's two more weapon vouchers. I wonder what else he'll get."
"Hm... I don't quite remember the mechanism behind getting weapons. They can't just give out random quests for it either. It might have something to do with a skill you'll get as you level up."
"Urgh... that's going to take quite a while, right? You also said something about a skill that allows the spirits to be further away from me, and there's not even a guarantee that those will be the next two skills I'll get."
"Well, sure," Runar replied, "But the Spirit Keeper has a history of levelling up pretty fast compared to others. Especially as you become the keeper of more spirits, your levelling speed will just increase. Not proportionally, I guess, but you'll still do better than others."
"If you say so," Ryan groaned, getting up from his seat, grabbing grabbing the steel rebars attached to his backpack before placing them on the ground and stretching his hand out toward Maximus, "Mind if we give it a go?"
Maximus quickly nodded, releasing the sword. It fell apart into red wisps that quickly flowed into Ryan's fingertips, safely appearing right next to the spare part of Maximus' armour. Ryan looked at Tiar on the back of his hand.
"I know this might be a bit of a waste of the skill use for the day, but it's worth it, right?"
"ദ്ദി(•ᴗ• )", Tiar replied, giving a quick thumbs up as Ryan held his hand out to the steel rebar, quickly activating the Spirit Armament skill. The symbiote's tendrils quickly reached out to the metal and tore it apart like it was clay, shaping the steel into the shape of a sword, starting at the hilt. Piece by piece, the weight increased, and Ryan did whatever he could to keep the blade upright. But by the time the sword was fully put together, it was far too massive for Ryan to actually use.
Sure, he could keep it somewhat upright if he tried really hard, but swinging something like this around the way Maximus did was absolutely impossible. And the weight wasn't even the main issue here, it was just the sheer size. It was more than two metres long altogether, so the tip of the sword always seemed like it was being pulled to the ground by a magnet. With his un-awakened strength, there was no way he could use this productively in a fight.
"I really hope I awaken my strength stat soon," Ryan groaned as the tip of the sword dug into the old wooden floor, "There's no hope for me to activate the 'elemental' part of it either, is there?"
Maximus slowly shook his head.
"Yeah, I thought so..."
"Cheer up, maybe at some point you can actually use it properly. I feel like those flames would kind of suit you," Runar pointed out, but Ryan sighed. He let go of the sword and deactivated the skill, making it fall apart into smaller pieces.
"No, I won't. Unless I awaken Aura and learn Maximus' swordsmanship, at least," Ryan explained, "His swordsmanship stances are basically a physical pattern that imbue Maximus' aura with some elemental aspects. Those aspects can't usually show, at least not with Maximus' current level of Aura, but the sword, Granfell, seems like it can properly take those elemental aspects and actually make them appear like that."
Runar glanced over at Maximus and then back at his nephew, "You got all that from him just shaking his head?"
"That was basically just a confirmation of what I already thought. My Intuition isn't that high yet," Ryan scoffed, scratching the back of his head, "Whatever, I'm pretty happy with the bat Silvia made for me. And it suits me a lot more, anyway."
"Sure, sure. So, now that we know what kind of items you can get through the gift shop, let's get you to the next area. Though it's going to be a bit rougher in a lot of ways," Runar explained, and Ryan curiously raised his brows.
"Oh, alright! I'm guessing it's still going to be a simple fighting thing, right? No puzzles? If so, we'll definitely be fine."
"Hah, honestly, with your type of intuition you should be able to get through puzzles pretty easily. But yeah, it's just a combat area. But it's rough because for one, the enemies are a bit higher levelled and act in small groups. Plus, also because of their appearance."
"Their appearance? Can't imagine anything more off-putting than a rotting, living mascot suit."
"Yeah, so... the next area will be the petting zoo."