As Kaelen was the first to climb down, he noticed Arthur, who looked deeply thoughtful.
Kaelen asked, "What are you thinking so deeply about? With how easy getting this shard was, I don't doubt we will get the others without much trouble."
Arthur just nodded and replied, "I know it won't be too difficult. I just received my aspect Legacy; that's why I was in thought."
Kaelen nearly gasped in shock, "YOU RECEIVED AN ASPECT LEGACY!?"
Everyone had heard Kaelen screaming and hurried back to the ground; they all looked at Arthur, and Abner asked, "So what is it? A memory? An Echo?"
Arthur shook his head and replied, "It's an acting method with seven levels of mastery and a relic as a reward when I advance a level."
The cohort all looked at each other and said in unison, "Acting? How is that useful? And what are these relics?"
Arthur smiled as he replied, "Well, the acting method is useless now, but I know that later on it will be extremely strong. As for the relic, it's an echo; its rank is determined by my mastery of the acting method, and its class is the same as mine."
All of them looked confused about the first part, acting? Extremely strong? They just didn't get it, but they understood the second part.
Glorielle asked Arthur, "You got an echo? Then show us!"
Arthur summoned The Hounds of Fulgrim who acted like obedient pets to him but were completely cold to others.
He sighed and told his "dogs" to play with his friends nicely; they immediately started acting friendly after he said that.
Arthur Lampooned in his mind, 'If only my friends were more like dogs, I wouldn't mind throwing them a bone or two.'
Their next destination was East towards the crater, although the Lord's statue was closer since it was near the Crimson Spire in the southwest.
Arthur had long decided to leave it for last, to not make the journey longer than it needed to be
His friends were constantly complaining about how boring the place is every day, so he decided it's useless to try to keep them here longer than needed,
even though he desperately wanted to be with them for as long as possible.
'Now that I know getting those shards won't be a problem, I can relax and enjoy the journey; after this, I will have to bid goodbye to my friends...' Arthur thought to himself.
While walking to the next statue, Arthur tried to make the most of his journey with his friends by making a lot of small talk.
Arthur asked Kaelen "Hey Kaelen you want to become Supreme Right?"
Kaelen nodded and replied slightly, smiling, "Yes, I want to surpass my father and make him proud."
Arthur nodded and continued, "Abner also wants to become the first Divine Ranked Human ever. Will you try to do that too at some point?"
Kaelen looked thoughtful and replied, "Well, becoming sacred or divine, it would be nice if we could do that, but I doubt we will get that far; even becoming a Master or a saint feels distant. If anyone could do it then... it would have to be you."
Arthur smiled as he encouraged Kaelen "Don't worry, I believe in you both. If there's anyone who could reach Godhood, it's you two."
Kaelen smiled humbly as he replied, "Well, I think becoming Supreme is enough of an ambition for now, and don't sell yourself short; you're more talented than me and Abner put together."
Arthur sighed, shook his head, and asked Brave, "Brave, do you still plan on having a lazy life? Has becoming an attendant of mysteries not given you any ambition?"
That's what they called the rest of his cohort; at first they didn't want to be called mere attendants of his, but since he always called them that despite their wishes, they eventually gave up resisting it.
Brave just said, "Well, challenging the second nightmare... isn't that just throwing your life away? I honestly don't know why people would want to do that; why not leave saving the world to someone else?"
Arthur answered his question with one of his own: "If Awakened ran away from their duty, who would fight then?"
And Arthur then continued, "The nightmare creatures of the Great and Cursed Rank—even the unholy ones won't care if you're a Master or a Saint—becoming stronger is something every awakened has to do, in my opinion because in this world weakness is a sin. Have we not learned that here?"
Arthur didn't stop there, and continued further, "If I had not awakened, could we ever hope to fight that fallen terror? The Dark City and the Waking World are not as different as you think; Abner is right.
Nightmare creatures are getting stronger, and there's less time than you think before The waking world becomes a thing of the past, at most; I give it 40 years."
Everyone looked at him as he spoke; they knew that his aspect enhanced his divination, and what he said tended to be true, so they took his words to heart.
Brave had a complicated expression as he asked, "But why does weakness have to be a sin? Why must I become a god to be allowed to exist?"
Arthur replied with a monotone expression, as if he were staring at a wall, and replied his words sounding as if he were saying the most obvious thing in the world:
"Because this world is indifferent and cruel, you either accept being weak and suffer or become strong enough to protect what you like."
Brave thought about his answer and spoke, "But still, forty years is a lot. I don't really have to go and become a Master or a saint just because the world is ending. I would have lived a good, long life by then."
Arthur just sighed and shook his head. "But don't you want more? Why live a good life for only forty years? Why not a hundred or a thousand? Do you really think you could accept your death when some nightmare creature brings about the end of the world?"
Brave thought about it, he chuckled a little as he responded, "Hell no, I won't, ugh. Why did you have to go and convince me to become a master? You bastard, if I die, it's on you!"
Arthur chuckled as he smiled and responded, "You won't die. I believe in you; trust me, you're stronger than you think."
Brave just sighed, turned his head, and responded, "Yeah, I know I'm awesome."
Soon they spotted a group of five scavengers, and Arthur said, "Don't worry, I can deal with them on my own."
After awakening, such weak nightmare creatures didn't pose a threat to Arthur; he made quick work of them.
And Glorielle complained frustrated a little and sighed, "Would you look at that, Another reminder that my student surpassed me! I'm close to awakening anyway, so enjoy these moments while you can, brat!"
Glorielle and Kaelen were the closest to awakening, besides Arthur, who already did.
Arthur smiled smugly and taunted, "If you're so close to awakening, then do it already. What's stopping you? Don't tell me it's your lack of ability! Perhaps I should have gotten another teacher if that's the case..."
Glorielle was fuming as she angerly responded to his taunts, "Y-you dare! I taught you everything you know; brat, be grateful! How dare you talk to your teacher like this!?"
Seeing her reaction, everyone laughed as Arthur responded, "Relax, I was just teasing you!"
But Glorrielle didn't listen and just started to ignore him.
Arthur sighed and talked to Alec, "You want to join the Government when you get out, to serve the people, right? I think you will make a great awakened; you will probably help the most people out of our cohort."
Alec shook his head as he replied, "With your divine aspect, you will definitely do more than I could ever do, even if it's just you trying to strengthen your clan and not directly doing it for the people like I do."
Arthur sighed as he responded, "What's with all of you suddenly treating me with respect? Before I Awakened you guys saw me as a TV!"
Brave, Glorielle, Naamah, Alec, Kaelen and Abner all looked away from him and coughed in their fists, denying his "baseless accusations," as Alec then responded
"Well, you are the one who found out how to awaken without the nightmare spell, so it's only because of you that we have any chance of getting out of here;
It's just that we didn't fully believe it before you proved it to be true, but now that we know it is, of course we would respect you a little more!"
What Alec said was true to the Cohort and the people of the Bright Castle; it is only because Arthur found out how to awaken that they could ever afford to have the hope of getting out of here; to them, he was their savior.
Arthur, acting like a Tsundere said, "So you never believed in me in all those years we spent together? Whatever jerk, I never trusted you anyway, Hmmph!" Arthur then walked away from Alec.
Alec was stunned and didn't know what to do; he hurriedly said, "Wait, I never said I didn't trust you; I just didn't know if awakening without the spell was possible! I never meant to hurt your feelings, Arthur!"
But Arthur didn't listen to him and started talking to Abner, already giving up his tsundere personality and acting as if it never existed
"Kaelen and Glorielle will probably awaken by the time we get the Shards; would that be enough to get out of here?"
Abner thought about it for a second and nodded. "Even if they don't, I still believe we could get out of here because we have you." Abner sounded completely certain about his words.
Arthur sighed and asked, "Just what do you people even think of me? The Future God comparable to the Six of the Past?" Arthur scoffed and said, "You're overestimating me a lot."
Abner said to Arthur seriously, "Arthur, you are the first person to awaken a divine aspect; you might as well become a God one day. If anyone can get us out of here, it's you. When you arrived at the Bright Castle, you were so confident, what happened to you?"
Arthur sighed as he said, "I was confident way too confident; it almost cost me my life with that Stone Saint, and my decision to get the Shards as Sleepers cost Zane his life."
Abner put his hand on Arthur's shoulder and told him, "Everyone makes mistakes. Arthur, it wasn't just your fault Zane died; had we waited until we became awakened,
it would never have happened. It wasn't just your fault; it was a mistake all of us made together."
Arthur thought about it for a second and nodded, sighing as he responded, "Yeah, you're right, but I was the one who mentioned it first. I convinced you all to go out of everyone. I definitely bear the most guilt."
Abner sighed as he turned away from Arthur. Looking back slightly, he said, "Fine, if you want to blame yourself, then do it, but don't let the guilt crush you; blame us if you have to just keep going."