Gehrman had left some of his Memories with Sunny so he could study them. This was something he had been looking into recently as he prepared for his 2nd Nightmare.
As it turned out, most of the Cohort was reuniting to take on the trial that would make them Ascended. Effie, Cassie, and Kai would be joining him in conquering a specific seed in the Chained Isles. Apparently, the quartet would be traveling into the Nightmare with only the four of them.
It was a rather small group compared to the usual 6 or 7, but they were not normal Awakened either. Each of them were especially powerful, with Sunny himself being fairly equal to an Ascended at this point.
Together, they were much stronger than Gehrman was during his 2nd Nightmare. However, he had also enjoyed the advantage of supreme knowledge of the terrain and future of his Nightmare. The others would have to adapt to an unknown environment.
Though they could gain some knowledge based on the location of the Seed and its apparent connection to the Chained Isles, the ruins of that land could only offer so much insight.
And yet, they were making the most of it. Familiarizing themselves with the area while also expanding their reservoir of knowledge.
Sunny in particular was studying Weaves more closely. And though Gehrman was able to glimpse the patterns as well, he was under no illusion that he was equal to Sunny in this regard. Whatever Attribute the young man had that gave him affinity to Weaving was on the level of a truly terrifying existence.
Seriously, doesn't he have an insane amount of versatility? He is an incredible scout, warrior, and now has nearly unmatched mobility with his shadow-teleportation. On top of that he may very well be able to tamper with Memories. Not to mention his ability to make his Echoes grow stronger.
Indeed, before he even realized it Sunny had become an absolute monster, or rather, a Demon.
It was so absurd that Gehrman wondered if he would one day be surpassed by him…
But that day would not come any time soon.
Gehrman was not staying idle.
While Sunny studied Sorcery, he was studying something complex as well: computers.
With his photographic memory, he was able to pick up new knowledge very quickly. And since he had inherent skills with engineering, he was mastering computers and coding at an astonishing rate.
It might have seemed an odd hobby to an outsider, but for him, it was invaluable.
He had been shackled by the past technology of Yharnam, and now he had an entirely new frontier to explore.
Fortunately, since the dawn of the Spell, technology of this nature had become slightly less valuable and the price of Soul Shards naturally skyrocketed.
While he donated the vast majority of his Soul Shards to the Government to give him immunity from all chains of command, he was still allowed to take a decent number of incredibly powerful Shards. He had gathered a dozen Shards of the 4th Rank, and 20 of the 3rd Rank.
A single shard of the 4th Rank was valuable enough to buy him a small house, with his current number, his assets could build him a mansion (though he wouldn't be able to outfit it with all the amenities of the Han Li Clan residence).
All of this meant that he was able to buy a number of electronics with relative ease. He took them apart, experimented with them, and rented out a room in a Government facility that acted as a temporary workshop.
Many of the pieces required intricate metallurgy and engineering that could only be done by experts. At the moment, he was unable to build an entire computer from scratch, but he was able to code simple devices like a cellular device without any applications.
At the same time, he was studying weaponry.
The weapons of this world were truly astounding. Guns had come a long way, with the most dangerous being something called a rail gun.
Through building up a large amount of momentum in a closed area, it was able to accelerate at an astonishing speed. It broke the sound barrier several times over.
Unfortunately, finding materials that could withstand this was terribly costly. Several high rarity minerals and substances were combined to make compounds that could withstand the shot.
However, the concept was very important.
Making a rail gun with his blood manipulation was very difficult. Though he could now solidify a portion of his own blood for a decent amount of time (around an hour) it was unable to handle the strain of the rapid building momentum of the projectile.
This led him to researching chemistry. Specifically molecular and atomic structure.
Through further research and help from [Eyes on the Inside] he was able to produce a blood flame that could hold for around one minute. He was able to accomplish this by layering his blood coating, burning only the outside while constantly feeding more material to burn from the lower layers.
The process took a lot of his focus, so he tried to build muscle memory in order to make it as close to instantaneous as he could manage.
As an additional boon, these insights in the make-up of the world also offered him [Insight]. Though it was much more rare than Arcane truths, it was still an unexpected plus. At the moment, he had tallied a total of 90 of them.
He was tempted to start exploring the "rituals" that were involved in his Aspect, but decided that he was already too split among his other research.
Besides, there was one other area that he wanted to become more advanced in: architecture. Though he had built his shack outside Brygenwerth and had incredible engineering skills, it was nothing compared to the complex architecture of the waking world. And if he was going to make a new Workshop, he would be damned if he didn't spend time outfitting it with all the neat things that modern buildings had.
Thanks to his Ascended nature, the Hunter Oath Rune, and the Anti-Clockwise Metamorphosis Rune, he only had to sleep one hour once a week.
This way, he was able to spend all 24 hours of the day improving himself.
3 hours would be spent on computers and coding, 8 hours would be spent studying advanced engineering, 5 hours would be spent experimenting with studying physics and trying to come up with practical applications with [Blood Manipulation], and the final 3 would be spent on architecture.
This left him 5 hours to respond to Gate crises and miscellaneous things like spending time with Sunny.
…and there was one other thing he did every other day.
…
Two days after Gehrman had been officially appointed a Government Ascended, he had received a strange call on his communicator. It was from an Awakened known as "Mic". Apparently the man had been appointed to be his liaison. Though he was only of the 2nd Rank in terms of the Nightmare Spell, he held a good bit of power in the Government itself.
He acted both as a respectable warrior and a manager in one of the many departments this world-wide Government had.
Apparently, this department that he worked with had to deal with orphaned children.
Due to the nature of this society, the vast majority of orphans would not find a nice home. This was simply because it was easier to keep them in the Outskirts, providing their services in a number of menial tasks.
However, in rare cases where the child had no one to go to even in the Outskirts, they would be received by an orphanage in the city.
This was where Gehrman had been visiting.
Fortunately, it was fairly close to where Sunny's house was, and he could do his work while taking a train ride to the place.
Mic had invited him to this place out of concern for one of the children.
It was the child who had been living with that atrocious beast, the one who had adopted Dorian, and later this kid.
He had been nonverbal ever since they had brought him to this new place. He didn't interact with anyone, and only at once every two days.
In short, the kid was dying.
He was practically catanonic, only taking time to draw a few pictures. In those pictures horribly gruesome scenes were depicted. Incredible violence that was not at all befitting a child of 10 years old.
But in a few of those drawings, a figure appeared. The child was distinctly skilled at drawing despite his age, and it did not take long for them to identify it as Gehrman.
After referring to a psychologist, they deduced that the figure was being portrayed in a positive light in the drawings. Almost like a superhero defeating monsters.
So, in a last ditch attempt, Mic called Gehrman.
He was surprised to hear the call, and though he was reluctant to go, a small part of him yearned to go see the young one.
It was Dorian's empathy (most likely) that made him go out every other day and visit him.
That was how he found himself in a small room with colorful walls and drawings (the less violent kind) plastered on the wall. A twin sized bed with a white comforter and sheets decorated the corner, and a great surplus of craft supplies were neatly arranged along the opposite wall.
Though it was the room of a 10 year old, it was eerily clean and well maintained.
This child, who now had a cleanly cut head of brown hair, was sitting cross legged over a drawing as Gehrman came in.
"Morning, Milo." Gehrman sat down on the ground across from him and waited for a bit until he was done.
If it was anyone else, the kid would have scattered backwards and onto his bed before hiding under the blankets.
So while it appeared that he was giving Gehrman the cold shoulder, in reality this was the most open he ever was.
Eventually, the big brown eyes of his were drawn away from his art, noticing that Gehrman had brought something strange that he had never seen before.
"It's called ice cream. I just had it for the first time yesterday, it's tasty."
He offered the boy a cone of soft-serve vanilla.
Of course, Gehrman had gotten one for himself as well. Much like the fruity drinks he had found, he worried that this sweet treat might become an addiction for him.
Milo took the cone hesitantly, as he moved it around, a large chunk of it started to slide off, so Gehrman quickly reached his hand out to support the cone.
The boy flinched back.
Though Gehrman could have easily caught the ice cream, he decided against any further sharp movements.
The ice cream splattered along the floor, and a terrified look came over Milo's face. His eyes became wet and quickly darted to Gehrman.
An exaggerated sigh came out of Gehrman as he shook his head.
"Uh oh, now the turtle's gonna eat it,"
Any onlooker would be both very confused and terrified based on what happened next.
From Gehrman's back a stream of blood exited above his belt. Out of sight from the child, it miraculously coiled together and formed into a shape. He suddenly jumped in surprise, causing Milo to do the same.
"Ah, here he comes. This is why you can't drop food, he's gonna get fat if we keep letting this happen."
And then, slowly crawling from beside Gehrman was a small red turtle. It had taken the entire ride over for Gehrman to perfect it. He had discovered in one of his recent meetings that Milo was quite fond of the extinct animal.
So he had crafted a creature with the similar slow wobbling that those turtles had in the books he read.
Just as he'd hoped, Milo's eyes lit up at the sight of the thing. He stood up and took a step back away from the ice cream on the floor, allowing the turtle to have a straight shot at the fallen treat.
Silently, the turtle started to eat up the ice cream off the floor. The frozen desert was then crushed inside the stomach of the turtle, compounded into the smallest of balls. This allowed the turtle to keep on eating until the entire floor was just as clean as it had been before.
"I can't believe he ate it all, he must have been very hungry," Gehrman said with over the top astonishment. "Well, how about we share this last one then? I don't think I can eat as much as the turtle anyway."
This time, he took a lick of the ice cream first, showing Milo how to hold and eat the treat. The child slowly followed his lead.
Then, the boy's entire buddy shuddered and his eyes widened. He took another bit of ice cream before offering it back to Gehrman.
They both smiled warmly.
Then, out of the corner of his eyes, Milo saw something that made him let out a silent howl of laughter.
The small red turtle was smiling as well, and he was up on his back legs, dancing just like a human.
And that was the point.
Even though this didn't directly further his goals. Gehrman felt something he had never felt before, and that was the warmth of being a human.
Just like the sweet drinks and desserts, he wondered if he was becoming addicted to this as well.