Within Arthur's Aura World, his avatar serenely laid in his currently blue Aura Sea. His conscience, however, was in a dream-like world.

In this world, he was reliving a memory of a lecture the Old Man had given him during his years of training.

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With his hands within each other's sleeve, the Old Man had a scholarly look on his face as he paced back and forth, divulging his extensive knowledge.

"Everything in existence holds some form of energy within their bodies. It is with this energy that they interact with the world around them as they do. The same concept applies to the Celest. For them to be able to use their abilities, their energy must interact with the energy of the Realm. It is also because of this that the Celest face some restriction when it comes to their abilities. For example, a Celest can't use their abilities to wipe out a multitude of people or decimate armies with their abilities. As for why? Balance. It is because of this balance that Pandora thrives despite its harshness."

"Say there exists a person who can summon meteors. The Realm will have no qualms about them using their ability to fight several individuals of the same caliber at once, even if it means decimating the surrounding land. But if said person were to try and use their ability to attempt to wipe out thousands of people who can't resist in the slightest, he would find that he can't activate his ability. As for how that is possible, it is because the Realm allows the individual to live within it, and in exchange, the individual must allow the Realm to live within them. Thus everyone within the Realm must become bare to the Realm to fully utilize their abilities within. Therefore if you wish to thrive in the Realm, you can't hold any aspect of yourself from it."

Smiling in satisfaction at his lecture, the Old Man looked up at Arthur and promptly turned away to attend to some other matter. Whereas Arthur was balancing himself on a thin pole tens of meters above the ground with a single finger while the occasional arc of lightning struck him.

After a few seconds, Arthur's consciousness slowly returned to his Aura World's Avatar.

It all suddenly clicked.

If Arthur had to be honest with himself, truth be told his overall performance in Realm thus far had been far too monotonous, not very him. With his goal of traveling down the Path of Soverienghty and finding out more about his parents, he had overlooked one thing – his presence, for lack of a better word. To achieve these goals, with his intellect, he had been proceeding with things most in the most efficient way and missing out on a lesson many learn at the end of their journey – it's about the experience along the way that truly makes the journey's end worthwhile.

'I haven't truly been myself since I arrived in Pandora. Everything I've done thus far has lacked my essence, sorta like an artist's painting without any of his heart. My emotions and personality have all been pressed under my drive to succeed. I must lay everything bare and fully take in everything that's around me.'

As this thought end. Changes began to occur within Arthur's Aura World. His Lunar Core that was at peak Lunar Core began to pull away from the Lunar Core boundary until it was one-fifth of its original size. However, this decrease in size came an increase in density of about five times.

While this was happening, his Terrest Soul Body also began to go through some changes. Rather than just a transparent figure, it started to become detailed and fine-tuned. Though still transparent to some degree, little gold particles of light began to appear intermittently over it, giving off an attractive force – Devourer Body Composition. And while this was going on, a pair of eyes appeared on the Terrest's Soul Body's head. But other than two white circles that would otherwise outline an iris, there was nothing else.

Soon the image of a star-like man holding the outline of a Lunar Celestial object appeared. Compared to before, the scene was more serene and balanced. There seemed to be more harmony and cohesion.

After a while, these changes began to stabilize. And as they stabilized, Arthur's consciousness began its return to the physical world.

"Gasp!"

Taking a sharp intake of air, Arthur abruptly sat from his supine position.

Just as he did, though, a voice he hadn't heard since his arrival in Pandora graced his ears.

[- Congratulations! You Have Fully Integrated With Realm.]

And in a quiet voice, almost entirely devoid of its sadistic undertone.

[- I missed you, you know. -]

However, due to how quiet the voice was. Arthur couldn't make it out at all. Regardless, as Arthur's consciousness fully returned to his body, he immediately felt the changes in his body.

The first thing he took note of was that Omniscient Eyes was active, or more accurately, it now seemed to be permanently active. Next, he felt his passive absorption of realm energy had significantly increased, and judging by the slight golden sheen, his skin seemed to give off; the cause was obviously his Devourer Body Composition. Still, even though it had fully integrated with Arthur, he had no control over what it chose to absorb and didn't absorb.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Nonetheless, the next thing Arthur took note of was the significant improvement in the quality of his energy. Though he was no longer at the peak of the Lunar Core stage, he still felt as though he would have no trouble taking on someone at that level. Another thing Arthur took note of, was that realm energy now flowed through his veins, supplied by his Celestial Object. Though he didn't know it yet, both the Terrest and Celest path had perfectly fused to create a new path.

Nevertheless, while Arthur was thinking through these, though, a very peeved Cal floated to his eye level and, with a puff, fired a ball of energy into his face.

Almost sent back into his supine position, Arthur's body held itself at an awkward 120-degree angle with his head tilted all the way back. As he held this position, some shards of ice that were in his hair, from the implosion of his frost ability, started to fall to the ground.

Sitting back up, Arthur shot a glare at Cal," What was that for!?"

Cal returned his glare, snorted, and turned away in mock disgust. "Ugh, can't believe you made me move so much just after I just woke up from my nap. That in itself is a crime of the highest degree."

Hearing Cal's words, Arthur couldn't help but roll his eyes. "My apologies, oh great one. This lowly one didn't know his place and dared forced you to take action. Please have mercy on me, oh great one."

Cal paused. "Wait a minute. Confidence that's borderline arrogance. A tone that's unique to a select few of high intelligence. Word's that brim of youthful naivete. Hmm?"

Cal turned around and took a proper look at Arthur. "Would you look who's finally here. And here I thought I would be spending my time in Pandora interacting with a shell of yourself."

"Ouch, hurtful much. It's not like I knew. I was just going with the flow," replied Arthur as he slowly stood up.

"How do you not know when you are acting like yourself versus not. Maybe, I overestimated your intelligence."

"Again, ouch. I have feelings you know, very delicate and sensitive feelings."

"Pfft, the only thing delicate about you is the fact that if you put on a bit of makeup, you could pass for a girl."

Stopping mid-stretch, Arthur rolled his eyes again as he looked at the smug Cal. "Harharhar, I love you too."

"Hmpf, who would love someone like you."

"Whatever you say, pal, but why is your eye outlined in gold?"

"Huh? Oh, that, not too sure, but I picked something up in my scan when we first got here. It might be worth investigating."

Arthur grinned. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go check it out. This is our first time in a dungeon, after all. Who knows, we might find something good."

With no other choice, Cal conformed to Arthur's wishes and began to lead the way.

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While Arthur and Cal were heading towards the point of interest, in a different space sat three individuals surrounded by countless threads ranging in all colors as they danced, swirled, twisted, and knotted. Of the three figures, one was a child, the other an adult, and the last an elder. And between the three of them floated a large crystal ball that was currently playing the image of Arthur and Cal traversing through a forest.

The first to speak was the figure of the child. "I think we have 'nudged' enough. Any more, and we will be interfering with the Will."

"I agree with Dalia." Responded to the figure of the elder. "We have 'nudged' too many things in his favor. It is time for things to take their natural course and allow his destiny to lie in his own hands."

"Hmm, perhaps, but we should finish this last 'nudge.' The Will knows how much we have already interfered and has allowed us thus far. Perhaps our interference is as it wishes. Regardless, I agree, we shouldn't test its limits. This 'nudge' will be the last." Spoke Clotho.

Interestingly, after Clotho finished speaking, the elderly figure of Skuld shimmered, and an elderly Clotho took his place. In contrast, the figure of Dalia as a child flashed and took on the figure of a young woman. As for the figure of the child, the image of a young boy appeared.

"It is agreed then," said Manu as he grasped at the air, and a golden thread appeared in his hands. In a swift movement, his little hands had tied a small knot in the golden thread, and in a graceful motion, the string was sent dancing into the crystal orb.

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Back on Arthur and Cal's side after traversing through the forest for a few hours, they finally arrived at the shores of a small lake surrounded by a thick mist. With his white hairstreak turning blue, Arthur began condensing all of the mist into the water, gradually lightening the mist.

As the mist cleared up, Both Arthur and Cal could make out a tiny island at the center of the lake. But what caught their attention was the outline of an oddly shaped boulder.

After a few minutes, all of the mist had disappeared, and the image of small grassy island housing a boulder was clear for all to see.

With a grin, Arthur turned to Cal. "Oh, great one, with your immeasurable skills and looks. Only you are worthy of taking the first look of what could be a treasure."

Hearing this, Cal groaned. "If I had hands, I would honestly smack that dumb grin off your face."

"Hahaha, don't be like that. Worst case scenario, this place is really dangerous, and you might end up with a scratch. I, on the other hand, am not made of metal and will not get off with just a scratch if it's a worst-case scenario."

Cal chuckled. "Uhuh, sure, it definitely isn't because you are worried that a giant snake will leap out of the water wanting to swallow you whole."

With a quick sequence of his small cubes, Cal began flying towards the center of the lake.

After a few minutes, he reached without any mishaps, but suddenly he found himself frozen, staring at the hilt of a sword embedded into a stone boulder.

Arthur, on the other hand, noting that Cal's reached without any mishaps began to make his way over too, leaving frozen footsteps in his wake. However, as he got closer, his eyes began to lose focus as he fell into a daze. Until he finally appeared before the sword and boulder duo. Subconsciously, he reached out with both hands and grabbed the hilt of the embedded sword.

SHINK!

[To Note: The deities/entities of fate are completely independent of their respective pantheons. They act as a collective mind following the wishes of the Will.]

[Tidbit 1: Dalia is the Lithuanian goddess of fate.]

[Tidbit 2: Skuld (future), along with Urdr (past) and Verdandi (present) are the Norse equivalent to Greek mythologies three fates the Moirai (Atropos, Clotho, Lachesis).]

[Tidbit 3: Manu is the Chaedalian god of fate. The country existed somewhere from the 10th century to the mid 6th century.]