After drinking the Divine Water created by the Crateris Cloth, Seiya, Marin, and Shaina quickly recovered their strength, and their injuries healed.
Beneath the starry sky, Shaina and Seiya stood facing each other on the mountain path leading to the Parthenon.
After a brief silence, Shaina spoke.
“Seiya, I won’t forget what you did for me today.
I will repay you.”
“But our business isn’t over.
The next time we meet, I’ll be wearing my Cloth when I fight you, so you had better take the battle seriously too.”
Standing nearby, Ryosho raised his head.
Oh.
Was the plot forcing itself back on track?
Holding the helmet of the Pegasus Cloth, Seiya said, “I’d rather we didn’t meet under those circumstances.”
Shaina said nothing more.
Instead, she turned to Ryosho.
“I won’t forget what you did for me either.
Should you ever need anything, come to me.
As long as it is within my power, I, Shaina, will never refuse, even if I have to walk through fire.”
Ryosho smiled gently.
Shaina was even more strong willed and assertive than he had imagined.
But that was only a facade hidden beneath her mask.
Or rather, it was a disguise she needed in order to survive in the cruel Sanctuary.
“Today has been nothing but bad luck.”
After Shaina left, Seiya looked at the cracks covering his newly acquired Pegasus Cloth and ran a hand through his hair as he complained, “I just got the Pegasus Cloth, and it’s already damaged this badly.
How am I supposed to take it back to Japan?”
“Leave it to me.”
“It might take some time, though.”
Ryosho had been waiting for Seiya to say that for quite a while.
The moment he brought it up, Ryosho seized the opportunity.
“You know how to repair Cloths?” Seiya and Marin asked in unison.
“Don’t forget where I come from.”
Ryosho smiled mysteriously.
“Where you come from?
You mean being a blacksmith?
This is a Cloth, not ordinary armor.
Don’t ruin it.”
Seiya had always been straightforward, so he voiced his concerns without any restraint.
Despite the complaints and distrust in his tone, however, Seiya still removed his Pegasus Bronze Cloth and handed each piece to Ryosho one by one.
“Don’t worry.”
“Wait here for a while.”
Ryosho donned the Crateris Cloth once more.
Repairing a Cloth required a powerful Cosmo and exceptionally strong Psychokinesis.
Given the current strength of his Cosmo and Psychokinesis, it was doubtful that he could repair the Pegasus Cloth without wearing a Cloth himself.
According to the Cloth Forging and Repair Guide, damage to a Cloth was divided into three categories.
The first was minor damage, the second was severe damage, and the last was total damage, meaning the Cloth was dead.
According to the guide, Cloths with anything less than severe damage did not require manual repairs.
Cloths were alive.
As long as they were placed inside their Cloth Boxes, they could gradually recover through their own self repair abilities.
Only Cloths suffering severe damage or worse needed to be repaired by hand.
A Cloth that had already died could only be repaired by infusing it with new life.
This was the well known method of using a large amount of a Saint’s blood to awaken the soul of a dead Cloth and grant it new life.
Cloth Repair was also divided into three levels, depending on the extent of the repairs and the amount of material used.
The first level was Basic Repair, which removed visible cracks from the Cloth’s surface, along with the larger fractures at the microscopic level.
The second level was Perfect Repair.
As the name implied, this restored the Cloth completely, removing every trace of damage and returning it to its peak condition.
The third level was Advanced Restoration.
By adding the necessary forging materials and reforging the Cloth, it could be completely transformed and raised beyond its original rank.
No matter which level of repair was performed, the appropriate forging materials were required.
The first material was Orichalcum, also known as Divine Steel, a legendary metal that only gods could use.
The Scale Armor worn by the Mariners was made entirely from Orichalcum, granting it formidable physical defense.
The second material was Gammanium, a legendary substance that provided resilience and infused metal with vitality, allowing it to change shape and adapt to different body types.
The third material was Stardust Sand, another legendary substance that carried the will of the gods and contained the source of life.
It was also a vital material that granted Cloths the ability to absorb, resonate with, and reflect energy, as well as repair themselves and evolve their own forms.
The Pegasus Cloth had only suffered minor damage, though it was near the upper limit of that category.
It could slowly recover through its own self repair ability, but a complete recovery would take a long time.
Clearly, however, this was an excellent opportunity to practice.
Ryosho could not simply leave the Pegasus Cloth to repair itself.
Opportunities to repair a Cloth were extremely rare.
He certainly could not afford to pass up one of the few chances he had.
Reluctantly, Ryosho exchanged his only 100 Soul Crystals for one unit of Stardust Sand.
According to the Cloth Repair Guide, Stardust Sand alone was enough to repair a Cloth with minor damage.
Under normal circumstances, repairing a Bronze Cloth consumed no more than 0.5 units of Stardust Sand.
In special circumstances, that amount might rise to 0.6 units.
Either way, one full unit of Stardust Sand was more than enough to repair the Pegasus Bronze Cloth.
Light flashed, and one unit of Stardust Sand appeared in his palm.
It was extremely light, weighing only about nine or ten grams.
Each individual grain resembled a shard of ice and shimmered with multicolored light.
Ryosho admired it briefly.
Then he raised his hand and gradually scattered it over the Pegasus Cloth.
Each grain of Stardust Sand sparkled like a star in the night sky and shimmered like light dancing across the surface of water.
At the same time, Ryosho focused his mind and ignited his Cosmo.
Using Psychokinesis, he controlled every grain of Stardust Sand and fused it with the Cloth at the atomic level, repairing the breaks within its structure.
The process placed an enormous strain on the repairer’s mental strength.
He not only had to control each individual atom at the microscopic level, but also had to fuse the Stardust Sand with the Cloth in a precise manner.
It was far more difficult than destroying an object at the atomic level.
Ryosho concentrated completely, not daring to relax for even a moment.
…
With both hands tucked into his pockets, Seiya impatiently kicked at the loose stones around his feet.
“Why isn’t he finished yet?”
“It’s already been more than half an hour.”
“Does Ryosho really know how to repair a Cloth?”
“I hope he hasn’t ruined it!”
Marin folded her arms.
“You were the one who gave him the Cloth.
Complaining now won’t change anything.
Just wait quietly for him to return.”
“Aaah…”
Seiya crouched down with a shout and scratched his head in frustration.
“It’s not like I had any other choice!”
Marin fell silent for a moment before asking, “Seiya, do you think Ryosho can be trusted?”
“What?”
Seiya did not immediately understand where the question had come from.
Marin continued, “For the past six years, no matter how you looked at him, he appeared to be an ordinary person.
But today, he suddenly risked his own safety to save us, and it turned out that he was a Silver Saint.
Don’t you find his identity suspicious?”
“The person who attacked you was extremely powerful, far beyond the level of a Silver Saint.”
“One careless mistake while fighting him could have cost Ryosho his life.
Why would he risk everything to save us?”
“All 88 Saints are under the Pope’s command.”
“They serve the Sanctuary above all else.”
“Yet Ryosho’s origins are a mystery, and he is not under the Sanctuary’s authority.”
“Besides, we know nothing about him.”
Seiya sat cross legged on the ground and scratched his head in irritation.
“Marin, it’s true that I don’t know much about Ryosho.
But personally, I don’t think we should doubt someone who risked his life to save us.”
“Even if he really is planning something.”
“At least so far, he hasn’t done anything that threatens us.”
“Besides, isn’t the fact that he can wear the Crateris Cloth proof enough?”
“Honestly, I think he’s loyal and honorable.
That powerful, warm, and righteous Cosmo of his couldn’t be fake.”
“I trust my instincts.”
Marin looked at Seiya and listened to his somewhat naive reasoning.
In the end, she said nothing more.