Five days later.
Midtown High School.
At the front of the classroom, the physics teacher was explaining a formula on the board.
Lucas Kane sat near the window, quietly writing in his notebook.
Three words appeared on the page.
Orichalcum.Gammanium.Stardust Sand.
Most people wouldn't recognize the terms individually.
But together, they pointed to one thing.
A Saint Cloth.
The armor worn by Saints—battle gear that connected a warrior to their constellation and dramatically amplified their strength.
Forging one required those three materials.
The good news was that Lucas probably didn't need to build the armor himself. Since he was the only person in this universe with awakened Cosmo, once he gathered the materials, the constellation itself should refine them and form the Cloth.
The bad news?
None of those materials existed in the Marvel Universe.
Lucas rubbed his temple.
Luckily, he still had time.
He hadn't even awakened a constellation yet, which meant he didn't urgently need a Cloth.
But preparation mattered.
It was better to plan early than scramble later.
Lucas stared at the word Orichalcum.
Then he wrote something beside it.
Vibranium?
In myth, Orichalcum was a legendary Greek alloy known for incredible durability.
Vibranium wasn't far off.
In the Marvel Universe, it was the most famous rare metal on Earth—capable of absorbing enormous amounts of impact energy.
Captain America's shield was made from it.
Unique.
Nearly indestructible.
And incredibly rare.
But Lucas knew one place where vibranium existed in absurd quantities.
Wakanda.
The secretive African nation that had spent decades pretending to be a struggling developing country while quietly possessing one of the most advanced civilizations on the planet.
Their vibranium reserves alone could probably produce dozens of Cloths.
Bronze Cloths.
Silver Cloths.
Even Gold Cloths.
Lucas tapped the pen against his notebook.
If vibranium could substitute for Orichalcum…
Then he would eventually need some.
What if Wakanda refused?
Lucas's expression remained calm.
That wouldn't change anything.
If someone stood in the way of his path to strength—
Then they became an obstacle.
And obstacles were meant to be overcome.
Lucas moved his pen to the second material.
Stardust Sand.
He paused for a moment.
Then he wrote another word beside it.
Meteorite.
In Saint Seiya lore, Stardust Sand was formed from pulverized stars.
Meteorites were literally fragments of celestial bodies that had fallen to Earth.
If he could obtain a meteorite and refine it using the energy of burning Cosmo, it might produce something similar.
That left one final problem.
Lucas stared at the word Gammanium.
This one was far more difficult.
Orichalcum gave the armor durability.
Stardust Sand granted regenerative properties.
But Gammanium acted as the core—allowing the materials to merge and giving the Cloth a form of life and awareness.
Without it, the armor would be nothing more than lifeless metal.
Lucas frowned and finally wrote something beside the word.
Gamma Radiation?
He drew a small question mark next to it.
If Gammanium granted life-like qualities to the armor, then the name itself suggested something.
Gamma.
Bruce Banner had been transformed by gamma radiation.
In a sense, gamma radiation had created the Hulk.
If Banner had been female, people might jokingly call gamma radiation the Hulk's father instead of his mother.
Either way, gamma radiation clearly had a connection to life-altering energy.
Maybe it wasn't Gammanium.
But the connection felt too strong to ignore.
Lucas closed his eyes and tapped the pen against his notebook while thinking.
Then someone nudged his arm.
He opened his eyes and looked sideways.
Gwen Stacy gestured subtly toward the front of the room.
"Mr. Anderson called on you."
Lucas blinked and looked up.
The gray-haired physics teacher was watching him.
"Lucas," Mr. Anderson said with a faint smile, "why don't you answer this one?"
Right.
He had been caught daydreaming.
Lucas stood up.
After a moment of thought, he gave a clear and precise answer to the question.
Mr. Anderson looked mildly surprised.
But the answer was correct.
"Well," the teacher said after a pause, "I suppose you were paying attention after all."
Lucas nodded politely and sat back down.
He had just returned to thinking about the connection between Gammanium and gamma radiation when a folded note slid across the desk from Gwen.
Lucas opened it.
Has the court scheduled your independence hearing yet?
He considered the question briefly, then wrote a reply beneath it.
Yes. This afternoon.
He pushed the note back.
Since the Chitauri attack had destroyed his apartment building, Lucas still hadn't been assigned new government housing.
Not that he expected one anytime soon.
New York bureaucracy moved slowly.
And he wasn't the only orphan who had lost their apartment during the invasion.
By the time the system processed his case, he would probably turn eighteen.
At that point, government housing would end anyway.
Which meant he needed a different solution.
Lucas had already started looking for cheap apartments.
Living in a crowded airport hangar with dozens of displaced residents wasn't exactly ideal.
Unfortunately, landlords rarely rented to minors.
At seventeen, Lucas technically lacked the legal capacity to sign a lease.
So for the past few days he had been leaving school early to visit the Queens Family Court.
He was filing a petition for early legal independence.
That way, he could rent an apartment on his own.
Gwen knew about it because of her role as a student assistant.
Lucas hadn't told her voluntarily.
He simply couldn't avoid it.
After all—
He was a student.
And Gwen Stacy was the junior class student assistant.
Which meant handling things like absence requests was literally part of her job.