On Forging Holy Clothes in the Marvel Universe

Five days later!

Midtown High School.

The physics teacher at the front was giving a lecture.

Hawk, seated by the window, was jotting down three names in his notebook.

Orichalcum!

Gamanion!

And Silver Star Sand!

Individually, maybe no one would recognize them, but together, most people would.

Cloth!

The battle armor of a Saint Seiya. Once worn, it connects the Saint to their constellation and massively boosts their combat power.

To forge a Cloth, these three materials are essential.

The good news.

Since he was the only one in this universe with a Cosmo, he didn't actually need to craft it by hand. He just had to find these three items, and his constellation would refine them into a Cloth unique to him.

The bad news.

Who could tell him how to find things that only existed in the Saint Seiya universe within the Marvel Universe?

Hawk's head ached.

Luckily, he still had time. He hadn't yet ignited a constellation, so the need for a Cloth wasn't urgent.

But...

Better to prepare ahead than to scramble after the fact.

Rather than wait until he ignited his constellation to start searching for these three items, it was smarter to begin now.

So!

Hawk looked at the word "Orichalcum" he'd written in his notebook, thought for a moment, and added another word beside it.

Vibranium?

As one of the three core materials for a Cloth, Orichalcum came from ancient Greek legend—a miraculous alloy capable of resisting ordinary impacts.

Coincidentally.

Vibranium was also a legendary alloy in the Marvel Universe, and one of the highest-tier ones at that.

And Vibranium shared the same property of being able to resist impacts indefinitely.

Captain America's shield was forged from Vibranium.

One of a kind.

Unmatched in the world.

As a metal that existed only in legend, Vibranium was priceless and rarely available on the market.

But...

Hawk knew there was one place on Earth with massive reserves of Vibranium. Enough, without exaggeration, to forge all forty-eight Bronze Cloths, twenty-four Silver Cloths, and twelve Gold Cloths—with plenty left over.

That's right.

He was talking about that twenty-first-century country that kept itself isolated, pretended to be starving to scam UN relief aid, and called itself Wakanda.

If Vibranium could really replace Orichalcum...

Then...

Hawk was determined to get it.

What?

Wakanda wouldn't give it up?

Ha.

I want Vibranium—what's it to you?

He wasn't a fighter, but if someone stood in the way of his growth, that was a conflict of the Dao.

A conflict of the Dao...

Meant no end until death.

Hawk thought this over, then looked at the word "Silver Star Sand" in his notebook. After a pause, he wrote "Meteorite" beside it.

Silver Star Sand.

As the name suggested, sand ground from the stars of the galaxy.

Meteorites were just fallen stars.

As long as he could find a meteorite and grind it down with the energy of his burning Cosmo, he could obtain Silver Star Sand.

But...

Gamanion.

This stuff?

If Orichalcum provides the metallic flexibility for the Cloth, and Silver Star Sand, ignited by Cosmo, grants it self-repair, then Gamanion is what fuses these two materials together and imbues the Cloth with life and consciousness.

In short.

Orichalcum and Silver Star Sand aren't the key to forging a Cloth.

Gamanion is.

Without Gamanion, a Cloth forged from only Orichalcum and Silver Star Sand is just an ordinary, lifeless object. Only a Cloth with Gamanion is a true Saint's war garment.

But!

Hawk frowned, thinking for a moment, then wrote "Gamma Rays" beside it and drew a medium-sized question mark.

From the fact that it can give life and consciousness to a Cloth, and from the "Gamma" in "Gamanion," it's unmistakably similar to the Hulk's mother—that is, Gamma Rays.

The Hulk was born when Bruce Banner was exposed to Gamma Rays.

From a life perspective, Gamma Rays are the Hulk's mother.

Of course.

If Bruce Banner were a woman, then Gamma Rays could also be the Hulk's father.

Anyway, even if Gamma Rays aren't Gamanion, they're definitely connected in some way, perhaps even crucially.

Hawk closed his eyes, the tip of his pen unconsciously tapping against his notebook as he thought deeply.

Just then.

He felt someone nudge him.

Hawk opened his eyes and looked at Gwen, who had elbowed him.

"Mr. Anderson called you."

"..."

Hawk paused, startled, and looked up at the podium.

The slightly gray-haired Mr. Anderson on the podium smiled as Hawk's gaze met his. "Hawk, you answer this question."

Alright, he'd been caught zoning out by the teacher.

But...

Standing up from his seat, Hawk only thought for a moment before perfectly answering Mr. Anderson's question.

Now it was Mr. Anderson's turn to be stunned.

Still, Hawk's answer was correct, so Mr. Anderson on the podium just shot him a look that said, "You got lucky this time," before telling him to sit down.

Hawk said thanks and sat back down.

Just as he was about to resume pondering how many possibilities existed between Gamanion and Gamma Rays, a note slid over from beside him.

Hawk looked at the note.

His eyes landed on it.

"Has the court hearing for the independent application been confirmed?"

"...Confirmed, this afternoon."

Hawk thought for a moment, wrote his answer below the neat handwriting on the note, and slid it back.

His apartment had been violently demolished by aliens, and the new welfare apartment still hadn't been arranged.

But Hawk figured he probably wouldn't get that new welfare apartment anyway.

New York City's administrative efficiency was notoriously slow, and he wasn't the only orphan who'd lost a welfare apartment. Hawk estimated that by the time his turn came around, it would be next year.

And next year, he'd turn eighteen.

So...

These past few days, Hawk had been looking for an apartment with cheap rent.

After all, he couldn't just stay crammed in that hangar with a bunch of people, surrounded by all kinds of smells, constantly worrying whether those who'd lost their homes and had no insurance payouts might go to extremes.

Anyway, if he didn't move now, he'd have to move next year. Might as well just move now.

But because he wasn't eighteen yet, legally speaking, he wasn't qualified to rent a place, and no one would rent to him.

So these past few days, Hawk had been taking afternoons off to go to the Queens Family Court to file for early emancipation.

And since he'd been taking afternoons off, Gwen knew the reason for his leave.

It wasn't that Hawk had told her.

He wasn't that boring.

In short.

Hawk was a student.

Gwen was a student assistant.

And she was a student assistant in the same grade as Hawk.