Thoughts for R/E Gear and Materia

So we have the Materia system can puts out godly items like they are dropped out of a gum ball machine while leaving hard worked R/E items out to dry. Most R/E gear is significantly better than any base gear out there, but lacks a lot when compared to melded gear. Okay, we knew this.

I had a solution. R/E gear develops Spiritbond just like normal gear, the only difference is that you cannot meld or convert it, so what good is the spiritbond? How about allowing us the use the spiritbond acquired to "level up" the item.

I'll use Penance for example since it's one of my favorite belts:
Lv35 R/E [HP-10 STR+2 MND-1 Eva+2 Mdef+1]

So you party with it for an hour and a half and get it up to full spirit bond? Well instead of converting it, when reaching 100% bond it levels up to Stage II
Example stats could be: Lv37 R/E [HP-12 STR+4 MND-1 Eva+3 Mdef+2]

At stage II the spiritbond required to level up would be higher than the first spiritbond, and once you finally got Stage II up to 100%, it would level up to stage III
Example stats could be: Lv40 R/E [HP-15 STR+7 MND-2 Eva+5 Mdef+2]

All the way up to Stage IV, with each stage requiring substantially more spiritbond than the last, where it could look something like this:
Lv50 R/E [HP-30 STR+15 MND-5 Eva+9 Mdef+4]


This avoids the prospect of losing gear that is difficult to obtain through materia melding, and also circumvents the mundane Trial of the Magicians system XI used to upgrade gear. Likewise, I feel like this system would also tie in well with the lore about Spiritbond because it is supposed to be a particular piece of gear's attachment to you. It is explained that more attachment = greater power so this kind of leveling up process would fit in well.

Sidenotes: This would only be for R/E gear, regular gear can and should stay just as it is. I threw the level increase per stage in there just for the sake of it getting "stronger". It doesn't necessarily need to keep jumping levels and not every gear would need to go to 50.