While Billy kept leveling up Mental Armor, he also tried to come up with ways to learn the improved version of the current skill. At first, he thought that he could think of better ways to use Dream World. However, even in such a dimension that followed his rules, he couldn't find the answer he was looking for since it was based on his knowledge. At the same time, he couldn't make his friends or himself practice the limits of the armors there… for the same reason.
Using the other innate skills wouldn't work either since Uvish knew their ins and outs… it felt like Billy could only be patient and grind the skill. However, Billy had an idea…he recalled that when Zenis got enraged, his personal domain began to change and show the effects of the other innate skills. He didn't do that for long since it was unnatural, and the personal domain needed to have a certain level of compatibility with its users. Still, maybe he could try to copy him and negate all sources of mana from entering it…
"The cost of mana would be tremendous, but…" Billy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Even if it is possible, I don't have the time to learn that.
Billy saw his siblings arriving, so he also called Lily and Alexander. They were going to be the first group to learn how to use the armor. Since that was just the first version of the armor, and Billy was too busy. Lately, it couldn't be helped that his plans of secrecy had to be put away for the time being, but the same thing won't happen in the future.
"First of all, let's head to the poison dragon dungeon," Billy said. "The armors are really powerful, so we might cause some earthquakes around and damage the buildings. I guess we can't leave the kids behind this time…"
Dungeons were too depressing for kids, but with Uvish's actions as of late, Billy couldn't leave his kids unprotected. While their familiars were strong, they were only barely strong enough to fight back a single of those red-flying bastards. Billy could leave his Frost dragon to guard the fort, but that would cause other problems.
Regardless, they reached the dungeon after three hours and then got around the fifth floor. Few people go that deep nowadays, so they don't have to worry about anything.
"Shouldn't we go deep and test it against the boss?" Natalie asked.
"No, the boss won't be a good test. The armor is that strong," Billy said. "Besides, while the kids are fine for now, this place has a lot of poison. I can ventilate the surroundings, but since the monsters keep spawning, some of the poison still will linger around. Regardless, two of you at a time should fight and check things while learning from each other. I will move the kids to another part of the dungeon."
In the end, the others split into groups of ranged and melee fighters to fight one another, and when Alexander and Natalie began to fight, the impact of the attacks made the whole dungeon tremble nonstop. Since the armor offered them that much defense, they even couldn't tell that they were causing that much damage to their surroundings.
Some monsters began to show, but Billy froze them with Niflheim, and even though he was going to crush them with magic, Hector and Christina did that with their staves… Billy made those to help them with strength training, thanks to it, they were harder, but that wasn't supposed to be the only reason for the damage.
"Hmm, you two have gotten a bit better," Billy said while looking at the boar-like monsters in pieces. "Still, it is too soon for you two to fight monsters."
"Even if we work together with papa and manage to do this?" Hector asked.
"... You have a point. As long as you are with papa or your mamas, you can rest easy." Billy said.
Billy kept freezing the monsters when they appeared while he watched the others practicing. It didn't seem like Alexander, Natalie, and Samuel would have much of a problem using the new armor since they could become a lot faster and more durable with them. The armor also improved their attack power.
However, the same couldn't be said about Kate, Sarah, Lily, and Samara. The reason for that was that they attacked from a distance. Sure they could save more mana by focusing on dodging while they attack, but the problem was there as well. They used mostly magic and long ranged weapons, and the new armor didn't improve their attack power.
"As expected, of the first version… I already found a problem," Billy thought. "It is probably because I created it with my own skills in mind… my magic is powerful enough as it is, and half of my long-ranged attacks rely on my stamina and Strength…"
Billy already had a few extra ideas for cores, but with so many things he had to do… it would be hard to improve it as soon as possible… In case, after half an hour, they left the dungeon, and the group told Billy their opinions. All in all, the armor was good for the melee fighters, but it was lacking for the rangers… They shared the same opinions as him. And however, they had different ideas on how to improve it…
"With this armor, we don't have to worry about accidentally smacking someone or something to the ground," Lily said. "However, it feels weaker, even though it isn't because we can't see the difference properly."
"It would be nice if it had some sort of function that would help us see things like the helmet of the armors," Kate added. "It would be easier to aim and prevent ambushes."
"I think it is better than the previous one since we move our bodies instead of the armor like before," Alexander said. "Our reaction speed is a lot better, and the size isn't as troublesome as before."
