"Claim reward."
Moen summoned the [Saint Seiya System] and directly claimed the mission reward.
"Buzz!!!"
A powerful magical aura instantly burst out, dazzling golden light almost blinding people's eyes.
"Wait, isn't this effect a bit too exaggerated?!"
Moen couldn't help but speak, but he spoke a bit too early, what was even more exaggerated hadn't come yet!
The overflowing magic power surged outward with Moen's body as the center, rushing in all directions. The terrifying shockwave directly lifted the surrounding trees into the air, as if it intended to clear out everything nearby.
Seeing this scene, Moen couldn't help but feel fortunate—luckily, he had chosen to claim the reward in an open, uninhabited forest.
Moen did have some foresight in this regard. He had guessed that unlocking a Gold Cloth would probably require quite a grand spectacle, but now it seemed his previous guess had still been a bit too conservative.
Magic power surged from Moen straight into the sky. The tangible magic power was like a pillar reaching the heavens, shooting directly into the pitch-black night sky.
The stars in the sky were stirred one after another. In the night sky, the stars gradually appeared, then began to shine, constantly flickering.
Moen looked up. The stars above flickered—though it was already night, under the illumination of the suddenly shining and radiant stars, the entire world seemed as bright as day!
"Wait, guys…"
Moen blinked, looking at what was happening before his eyes. The appearance of this Gold Cloth was it directly announcing itself to the whole world?
He had even tried to stay hidden and low-key, deliberately finding an empty and uninhabited place, yet it turned out there was no way to keep this low-profile at all!
"Buzz!"
Bathed in starlight, magical star radiance descended, gathering toward Moen. Then the countless stars in the sky gradually dimmed, leaving only one constellation of the Zodiac still shining, that was a constellation that originally wasn't particularly bright.
In the starry sky, the still-flickering stars formed a bright star map. It was a ram lowering its head, with thick, curved horns pointed forward, its front legs raised high, about to launch a charge.
[Congratulations! Aries Gold Cloth Unlocked!]
A message popped up on the system panel. Along with a burst of golden light, the constellation symbol of Aries, shaped like curved ram horns, appeared.
Aries, the first house of the Zodiac, the starting point of the vernal equinox, the beginning of all things' revival, a symbol of new life born from the realm of death—this is a constellation with very special significance.
As the unlocking process ended, the stars in the sky gradually dimmed.
At this time, the starlight that had descended earlier had also already fallen onto Moen.
"Hiss~"
This vast amount of stellar magic power seeped into Moen's body, merging into his limbs and bones, into every single cell, and into his magic source that resembled a rotating cosmic galaxy. Moen sucked in a breath of cold air, his entire body filled with a tingling, numbing sensation.
Moen had not even seen the Gold Cloth yet. Just the spectacle brought by unlocking it had already given him a considerable boost.
The effect of this wave of stellar magic infusion into his body had significantly improved his magic power, magic recovery speed, and physical strength. One wave of magic infusion could rival a long period of arduous training.
As the magic power was slowly absorbed into his body, Moen gradually recovered. He had just been completely overwhelmed by this stellar magic power.
"Phew~"
Letting out a long breath, Moen moved his limbs, the tingling sensation like evolution had already disappeared.
"If all twelve—no, thirteen—Gold Cloths were unlocked, then just the exaggerated effects from unlocking alone could already give me a huge boost. Is this the spectacle of unlocking a Gold Cloth? It's truly ridiculously exaggerated!"
Moen couldn't help but click his tongue. Just the unlocking spectacle was already this exaggerated, then how exaggerated would the Gold Cloth itself be?
Come to think of it, it was a bit funny. He had come to unlock the Gold Cloth, yet only at this moment did Moen finally have the energy to focus on the Gold Cloth itself. He turned his gaze toward the system space.
Looking at the shining golden Aries constellation symbol, Moen decisively summoned the Cloth Box from the system.
The glittering Cloth Box appeared. This golden texture was something that Bronze Cloths and Silver Cloths couldn't compare to—just looking at it alone was enough to make one's heart race.
There was no helping it, even someone who didn't know its value would definitely be tempted upon seeing such an exquisitely crafted large golden box.
With a thought from Moen, the Aries Gold Cloth Box opened. The main body of the Cloth revealed itself, it was clearly in the shape of a ram, standing on all four limbs as if walking, entirely golden, with two long curved horns on its head.
"So elegant."
Moen sighed. The golden ram form was lifelike. As it stepped forward, it looked just like its form in mythological stories, as if it truly existed before his eyes.
Aries was indeed the most fitting for a Gold Cloth. It was originally a ram covered in golden fleece, the legendary treasure "Golden Fleece" was precisely the wool of this Aries ram.
'Come! Aries Gold Cloth!'
With a thought, Moen immediately summoned the Aries Gold Cloth to equip it. He was already impatient to try out this Cloth.
"Clank clank clank!"
The ram-shaped Aries Gold Cloth immediately unlocked, transforming into armor that covered Moen's body. The coverage of a Gold Cloth naturally went without saying—it wasn't something Bronze or Silver Cloths could compare to. The Aries Gold Cloth had complete components and full protection, with the two curved horns on the shoulders being particularly distinctive.
Moen stood still, absorbing the information transmitted to him by the Aries Gold Cloth. Only after quite a while did he recover.
"There's even a cloak?"
After absorbing the information, Moen began examining the appearance of the Cloth. With a flick of his hand, he touched the cloak behind him, white on the outside and blue on the inside. This cloak was also quite remarkable; its quality was no worse than the Gold Cloth, and it wouldn't easily be torn apart in battle.
"Nice. Putting everything else aside, this appearance is seriously handsome!"
Moen was very satisfied with the appearance of this Gold Cloth. Every part of it exuded a calm and unhurried elegance.
"The enhancement effects that come with this Cloth are also extremely powerful. As expected of a Gold Cloth, it definitely lived up to my long anticipation."
Moen tried to connect with the Aries star map, but clearly received no response. The star maps of the Zodiac were relatively difficult to resonate with, his Scorpio one was the same. Even now, it still hadn't shown any movement.
"But even without connecting to the star map, this Cloth is already more than powerful enough."
Moen raised his hand and slashed horizontally in front of him. Magic power surged out, forming a transparent wall before him.
"Crystal Wall!"
That's right. Even though he hadn't yet drawn upon the star chart in the sky, this Aries Gold Cloth already came with usable abilities, and it directly granted a powerful skill like "Crystal Wall."
Moen had been looking forward to this move for quite a long time. He was indeed lacking a defense-specialized ability like "Crystal Wall."
The abilities of Lyra were originally meant for offense, so their defensive effect wasn't great. "Crystal Wall," however, is a skill specialized in defense. Of course, it's not just for defense, it also has a reflection ability, capable of bouncing an enemy's attack back at them.
"The more magic power you pour into it, the stronger the Crystal Wall becomes. The closer it gets to completely reflecting enemy attacks basically, as long as the Crystal Wall isn't broken or suppressed, it can reflect attacks almost one hundred percent."
Moen's eyes shone with excitement. This move was just too good. Once he became more proficient with it and mastered its usage further, he might even be able to cast "Crystal Wall" instantly without making any movement at all, directly forming it in front of him so that enemies wouldn't even notice it.
In that situation, as long as an enemy attacked him, they would be caught completely off guard and have the attack reflected right back at them. The harder they attacked, the harder they would be hit themselves, truly underhanded to the extreme.
"Really useful."
Moen tapped on the Crystal Wall, then walked around it to observe. This Crystal Wall really had no time limit. As long as it wasn't destroyed, it would continue to exist, and the magic power forming it showed no signs of dissipating at all.
"Mu seemed to use this move to guard his home."
Moen recalled that the Aries Gold Saint Mu, because he lived in seclusion in Jamir and was often away from the Sanctuary, would use "Crystal Wall" to protect the Aries Temple. With several Crystal Walls blocking the way, even a Gold Saint wouldn't be able to enter easily.
With a casual wave of his hand, he dispelled the Crystal Wall he had just created. Moen had no intention of leaving behind an invisible wall here.
If he encountered a situation like the one with Jose Porla last time, it would be much easier to deal with, just block with Crystal Wall and reflect it back!
Moen thought to himself. Jose Porla's previous outburst had indeed left a very deep impression on him. He didn't want to experience that feeling again, the feeling of wanting to save more people but being powerless to do so.
"Crystal Wall is unlocked directly, so what ability will unlock after connecting to the star chart? Starlight Extinction? Starlight Revolution? Or something even more outrageous like Psychic Storm or Stardust Breaker?"
Moen was quite looking forward to it, but he felt the most likely possibility was Starlight Revolution. After all, that move could be considered a signature inheritance skill of the Aries Gold Saints, while Starlight Extinction was created by Mu himself.
Although Starlight Extinction was also passed down, it was clearly not as representative as Starlight Revolution.
Aside from Crystal Wall, another extremely important inheritance had also been unlocked, the inheritance of repairing Cloths.
With this inheritance, the materials he had previously obtained could finally be put to use, and the knowledge he had learned before also had a place to be applied.
Although Moen had already learned how to repair Cloths before, he had never actually practiced it, and it had been difficult to do so. With his abilities at the time, he simply couldn't meet the requirements described in the repair manual.
The reason repairing a Cloth isn't something just anyone can do is because the requirements are extremely high.
Even the most basic Cloth repair technique requires telekinesis at the atomic level and highly advanced control, along with an exceptional degree of concentration to perform repairs at the atomic scale.
Moreover, aside from atomic-level telekinesis techniques and intense mental focus, one must also possess keen observational ability to truly complete the repair of a Cloth.
These are the other two abilities unlocked by the Aries Gold Cloth besides "Crystal Wall", telekinesis and the All-Seeing Eye.
Telekinesis can be said to be a specialized ability of Aries Gold Saints.
It is an extremely convenient ability, and when trained to a high level, it has a wide variety of functions.
As for the All-Seeing Eye, it is the power to perceive the operational laws of all things and learn the principles behind how things function. It can also be called the Eye of Insight.
No matter how solid an object is, there exists a single weak point that can cause fatal damage to its entirety. By applying even a slight force to that weak point, any material in the world can be shattered.
As a master of Cloth repair, one must possess the ability to find that weak point.
"It feels like I suddenly gained a lot of abilities, but they all require practice to be effective. This Gold Cloth really is extraordinary, it was worth the long wait."
Moen sighed once again. The enhancement brought by the Gold Cloth, even without connecting to the star chart, was far greater than that of Bronze Cloths or Silver Cloths that had already connected to the star chart.
He stored the Aries Gold Cloth back into the system space, left the forest, and then ran into Laxus, who had just arrived.
"Moen? Why are you here?"
Seeing Moen, Laxus stopped in his tracks, looking suspicious.
"Was that you just now in the forest?"
Before Moen could answer, Laxus asked again.
"Uh… if you're talking about the disturbance just now, then yeah, that was me."
Moen looked embarrassed. He more or less understood why Laxus was here.
He had just caused such a huge disturbance in the forest, and since Laxus lived nearby, of course he would notice it. Naturally, he would come over to check. In fact, not just Laxus, what he had done probably alarmed everyone in the town. There were likely quite a few people on their way here.
Moen had no doubt about this. After all, Porlyusica lived in this forest. If something big happened here, Master Makarov would definitely come to check immediately.
Sure enough, just as Moen thought of this, a small old man came rushing over in a hurry. Even though he came from the town, he arrived at almost the same time as Laxus, who lived near the forest, this was enough to show how anxious he was.
"Laxus? Moen? Why are you two here?"
Seeing his two grandsons here, Makarov stopped.
"Ask Moen. He's the one who caused that just now."
Laxus shrugged. He had already relaxed. Since it was Moen who caused it, there was nothing to worry about.
"Moen? So it really was you, you brat?!"
Makarov looked at Moen, his eyes wide, with an expression that said "I knew it was you." The disturbance among the stars just now had already made him suspect that it was related to Moen—after all, in this world, there was probably no one more connected to those stars than him.
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