6-month time skip
By now it was time for the new Sleepers to arrive with his divination abilities; he even managed to predict where they would arrive, so he was split off from the others to guide the new Sleepers to the Bright Castle.
They, too, were guiding sleepers back there except for Alec, Zane, and Kaelen who stood at the Bright Castle to protect it from nightmare creatures invading it.
As he was patiently waiting for the sleeper's arrival, he finally saw him—a legacy with a stick up the ass so big an elder from a cultivation novel seems humble by comparison.
The legacy watched him warily and asked, "Where are we? And who are you?"
Arthur just shook his head and told him, "Just shut it and follow me. I got 5 more sleepers to find before they die here." Then Arthur left.
The legacy was stunned. Doesn't this guy know who his father is? How could he just ignore him and treat him like Air? He was a proud legacy; he couldn't stand for this! So he challenged Arthur to a duel to put him in his place.
Arthur just declined and told him, "A duel? No way. If you don't want to follow me, then so be it." Arthur tried to leave once again.
The legacy was stunned; how could this guy reject his challenge to a duel? This is a matter of pride; if someone challenges you, then you must respond!
If it was Arthur who had just arrived on the Forgotten Shores, then he definitely would have put the legacy in his place, but the Arthur from now thought dealing with an extra like him was too bothersome.
The legacy still decided to follow Arthur; eventually they found the 5 sleepers Arthur was looking for and headed back to the Bright Castle.
They were not the first to arrive; they were the last, as Arthur was able to locate sleepers better with a sort of dowsing method using his divination; he had the most sleepers to find.
Before, all the people here in the Bright Castle were just 8; now there are 21 more, then double the previous number.
More than in the original story, Arthur assumed,
After all, how many of the sleepers he found would have made it here safely? Not as many as now, Arthur was sure.
After they arrived, they gathered everyone and told them where the gateway is and what guards it: the seven Shards that are the key to the lock, and... how to naturally awaken on their own.
The new sleepers were stunned; this was even possible, and when they found out who figured it out, they were even more shocked. Arthur's flaw made him a joke in their eyes, after all.
Although Arthur's aspect was divine-ranked, they just didn't believe him, but that was fine; he would convince them of it in the end because...
Arthur wants to create an image of competency in their eyes and become The First Bright Lord himself; this is not only for his ego but also for his plans.
Arthur knows he can't use the gateway to awaken since his physical body is dead, so he would have to stay in the Forgotten Shores anyway,
But his plan is to let his friends escape, thinking he stayed behind when he could have escaped; it was incredibly selfish, but he doesn't want them to forget about him.
He could use the excuse of a leader not abandoning his people to leave an impression and also give a real reason why he chose to stay, at least one that feels real to them.
Arthur said to everyone present, "I am going hunting, not only because I'm bored, but I can also make seven cores once I absorb enough soul shards. Who wants to go with me?"
His friends were surprised at the news he could actually do that, but they believed him because he probably only found out recently due to his aspect,
and that's why he didn't mention it, plus his aspect rank was Divine having the ability to do that is not completely impossible.
Several people joined him, including some of his friends like Kaelen, Zane, Alec, Naamah, Glorielle and Abner. Brave stayed back at the Bright Castle, too lazy to go hunt.
Tonight they decided to hunt a fallen creature. Another Cursed Herald; the other sleepers looked at them like they were suicidal,
But he just told them if they didn't want to hunt with them, they could still come and watch, and since some sleepers were curious, they decided to come.
Arthur predicted they would come. He knew that becoming the Bright Lord with his flaw was hard, but it wasn't impossible for him if he showed them he was worthy of it.
During this hunt, he wanted to show them he was competent in combat; a king had to be strong after all; it didn't matter if his friends overshadowed him a little because what a king needs most is influence.
If he just acted like a leader, he will become one; it's that simple. His friends won't care enough about the title of Bright Lord to compete with him for it anyway.
They soon found a spire messenger, or Cursed Herald, as it was simply called, since no one had given them the name Spire Messengers for now.
Zane Shot The Cursed Arrow Brave had given him for the hunt; he had a lot of trust in Zane's character; out of all of them, Zane seemed like the least to be tempted by greed.
Zane aimed for the neck and did manage to hit the Cursed Herald, but as it noticed the Arrow in advance, the Cursed Herald dodged a fatal blow to the neck and got hit in the chest instead.
The arrow only had one enhancement [curse]; it would weaken the enemies strength and deplete the stamina once it hit.
The ascended arrow went straight into the fallen monster's chest, piercing it with a lot more ease than an awakened memory.
Having just one ascended memory makes a huge difference for sleepers like them; they themselves lacked strength, so their weapons must be good enough to compensate for it.
Immediately, the Cursed Herald took flight and rushed at them from above; they did not wound its wings this time after all.
"Abner left Claw!" Arthur yelled, and Abner dodged the left hand of the Fallen Monster and didn't manage to attack it; while flying, it was impossible for them to hurt it.
The Cursed Herald knew this too, so it continued trying to harass them from above, but as Zane's Arrows sometimes hit while The Herald didn't manage to land a single hit due to Arthur's warnings, it chose to retreat.
Arthur made a Dowsing Rod divination and soon found the wounded Cursed Herald again with the Cohort; they ambushed the Cursed Herald again.
It kept trying to run away, but the [Cursed] enhancement exhausted it, and soon its wings were cut. Arthur managed to kill it eventually.
After finishing the hunt, the sleepers who came to watch were shocked! Mere sleepers just took down a Fallen Monster! It was all they could talk about all day, just like Arthur hoped.
Since he managed to kill it and played a big part in the fight by predicting how it would attack and finding it again and again, they were mostly talking about him.
Although, it was more that they thought he would die the first second and didn't expect him to contribute even a little, it still counted as progress for his goal of being The Bright Lord!
Without his friends caring much or at all about the position of Bright Lord, after a few months people started calling him a lord, but not the Bright Lord;
he was called The Lord of The Mysteries, like his aspect was named; this was really unoriginal of them!
If Roselle had heard him, he would have laughed out loud at his hypocrisy!
Arthur, knew that now all that was left was for him and his friends to awaken naturally, and this would take a few years,
But he felt confident in getting the Shards, as they are now; after all, they took down multiple Cursed Heralds!
Since staying in the Bright Castle was boring, his friends agreed to go on an expedition searching for the Shards before they awakened.
It could be called arrogance, but they truly believed in themselves; Arthur was unaware, but he would once again learn that arrogance has a price to pay,
just like he did with the stone saint, only this time he won't be lucky enough to escape relatively unscathed.
As he bid goodbye to the Sleepers in the Bright Castle, he went with his cohort towards the south, where The Spider Matriarch is located.
The journey wasn't too harrowing for them; they were quite used to fighting together, so they soon reached the statue in the South.