Gehrman did a couple of things before leaving. The first was to reconnect with Caster. Though the proud brat was annoying and frankly a bit scary, he was the closest thing he had to an acquaintance in this world, and he wanted to try something.
"Hey, I want that memory you have, the one that allows you to store water."
"You leave me at the gate as soon as you realize that we needed a shard to get in, and use the only one we had for yourself. Now the first thing you say when you see me again is a demand?" Caster was smiling, but it was strained.
Gehrman had left him at the gate, but it wasn't as rude as the boy made it sound. He had asked him if it was fine for him to just head on in. Caster had said "uh, yeah I guess," and that was that. Sure nothing Caster said was wrong, but it was a far bigger deal than he was making it out to be.
"You said it was fine," Gehrman reminded him. "Besides, you made it into the castle in less than a week. You didn't need my charity anyway."
This was true. The pair were not conversing outside the castle, but in its very mess halls. Gehrman had been planning to go find the boy, but thankfully he came to him. Though he had seemed traumatized, Caster seemed to have bounced back well. At least he was able to put on this creepy mask again.
Caster took a long measured breath, trying to calm himself for some reason. Though there was still somehow a grin on his lips. Scary. "I…wouldn't be opposed to selling the memory. It has lost a lot of its value now that we have clean water supplied by the castle," he trailed off. He didn't seem to want to sound desperate, but it was clear he was trying to milk this for however much its worth.
"Ugh, I'll give you 10 awakened shards," Gehrman grumbled.
"How do you have 10 awakened shards?" Caster asked incredulously.
"I'll get them."
"...I need at least 15."
"Fuck you dude."
"Again with that language," Caster sighed. "I really can't go lower than that. Even if its value has dropped, it's still an incredible utility Memory."
"I'll give you 8."
"...That's…not how bargaining works."
"7 and a half."
"Fine, I'll go to 12."
"3."
"What is wrong with-"
"Okay I'll do 4."
"...Fine, 10 it is," Caster relented. Not because of any actual bargaining, but because he was worried that the mad boy would do something absolutely crazy if this continued. Said boy now stared down the legacy.
"...10 and a half."
"..."
…
A week later, Gehrman gave Caster 11 Awakened soul shards. He had to admit, the boy was good at bargaining. This was not the only thing he had been doing though. Each time he went out alone into the Dark City, he was working on creating a map. He traveled stealthily throughout the Dark City and came across several different types of Nightmare Creatures. As he had previously learned, there were indeed Awakened creatures of a higher class. Luckily, he didn't find anything that could be classified as a Tyrant, nor could he find anything surpassing a Fallen Monster. Then again, there was no way he could fight those things.
Gehrman was able to lure and pick off several Awakened Beasts, and some Monsters. He was able to take them down after watching them fight against other Nightmare Creatures. They only had roughly 15 different attacks so he was able to memorize all of them and complete the kills easily. Thankfully, none of them had the tough carapace that the Carapace Scavenger did.
Speaking of that Scavenger, its corpse that Gehrman had been using as a backpack had been traded into the Artisans for an actual leather backpack. In terms of raw value, the metallic carapace far outweighed the complete, but mundane satchel. However, he didn't need it to be fancy, he just needed it to not clang around every time he moved.
Gehrman also traded in Soul Shards for other things. For one, he used one more to extend his stay in the Bright Castle for a week. He would only be staying for another week though. After all, he was planning on leaving and becoming totally self-sufficient. This was the first step in the path forward.
To get closer to the truth, he needed to grow stronger. For now, that meant filling out the "Blood Fragment" counter. At the moment, it sat at [182/1,000] The majority of that had come from the Flesh Reavers, he hadn't had the chance to feast on the blood of the corrupted in a while. Frankly, this suited him fine as it allowed him to make strategic and complex plans that would help guide him while his thoughts were clouded by madness in the future.
For that plan he needed several things, but most of all he needed paper and a writing utensil. This was not actually common in the Bright Castle, I guess most of these brats didn't plan on furthering their education while they were in this hell hole. Shame on them. The pursuit of knowledge should be held above all else.
This was another core ideal that had taken place in Gehrman's soul. Something he realized as he started planning for the future was that all of his engineering knowledge from his time as Gehrman had been further boosted by a factor he didn't expect: the boy. His body had a secret talent that he did not expect. It was Eidetic Memory. In other words, photographic memory. In other words, the boy was a genius.
He had not received a proper education, but what he did learn from textbooks that he found or articles from the internet were stuck in his brain. Therefore, his knowledge of engineering had taken a great leap forward compared to the Old Gehrman. Instead of just weapons and tools for the hunt, he now had the knowledge to create several fascinating things. The first and most important being a home. Specifically, a home inside of a cave.
However, despite his genius, he did need to do a lot of math and planning to make this work, hence the paper and writing utensil.
He was able to acquire all that he needed with relative ease. He didn't consume any blood from the beasts he slayed, allowing him to be in top condition for building. And he did slay quite a number of beasts. So many in fact that people started to take notice.
But that wasn't Gehrman's problem. He was busy having a grand old time being an architect/civil engineer.
Gehrman had to take great care in creating a comfortable home after all, he would be staying there for at least a couple of months, maybe a couple of years.
Eventually, he was ready to start in earnest, but before that, he wanted to check one last thing.
…
Gehrman dumped 12 Awakened Soul Shards out in front of Caster. After he counted them, the Legacy boy gave him an odd look. In truth, Gehrman knew he paid extra. He was acting crazy on purpose. There was nothing influencing him besides the funny reactions Caster had.
"Alright, I guess the Memory is yours. We just gotta make physical contact to make the transfer," Caster said.
Gehrman, ever the comedian, raised his arm high and placed it soundly on Caster's shoulder, holding it in a firm grip. Similar to how a father might reassure his son.
"Uh…right," Caster closed his eyes and a moment later something appeared in front of him.
He expected to see runes.
He had not expected this.
[ERROR].
The runes were blood red, the color of the "entity" that Gehrman was contracted with. "You have got to be shitting me," Gehrman cussed, his voice wavering. It was something he had suspected after killing nearly 100 Nightmare creatures in the Forgotten Shore and having nothing to show for it, but his deepest fear was confirmed.
Whatever the entity was, it wasn't letting him get any Memories from the Dream Realm.
"Is something wrong? Why aren't you accepting?" Caster could not understand what was happening, and naturally assumed that the issue was on Gehrman's end. While this was true, it was impossible to explain. So instead Gehrman just decided to keep playing crazy.
"...right, I forgot. My flaw is that I can't accept Memories or Echos from people."
"I thought you said your flaw was you were…insane," Caster slowly had a realization dawn on him. "Ah," he said in understanding. He looked at the boy with something similar to pity.
…
This news was certainly unwelcome. Frankly, it pissed Gehrman off immensely. He was already dealing with a flaw that constantly thwarted his very existence, why couldn't he enjoy the basic rights of an Awakened?
I did mangange to receive several memories from my First Nightmare. Since that was a recreation of Yharnam and apparently crafted by the entity, it might be fair to say that the only place he has the authority to bestow memories was in there. This handily explains why I got so lucky that night, Gehrman thought.
Nevertheless, he had to move on. He had a house to build after all. So one day he went to the edge of the Dark City, about two kilometers away from the Bright Castle, and he found a piece of solid wall. The was a part of a giant piece of rock that jutted up from the side of the island.
Just like most things in the Forgotten Shore, it was tougher than it appeared. Fortunately, Gehrman had a plan: hit it really hard.
Using his aspect to the fullest, he cut some blood free and pressed it into the wall, just like how he did back in the Flesh Reavers' nest. This time though, he had the opportunity to do some math and determine just how hard he needed to hit it and where the blows should land to create the optimal tunnel.
With a deafening crack, the sound of an explosion tore through the surrounding Dark City. Already, Beasts stirred.
Gehrman had determined he had about 23 seconds before the nearby Monsters came to disturb him. They were a strange bunch of wraith type Nightmare Creatures, all Awakened Monsters. They countered Gehrman well except for the fact that his blood was terribly effective against them. Though the creatures were strong, far stronger than any ghost had any right to be, the blood of a Divine Hunter possessed unique properties that combined with his [Burial Blade] to make them relatively easy prey.
Of course, it also helped that he had figured out their attack patterns already. They had a lot more variations than normal, 46 to be exact, but Gehrman's memory made this a trivial task.
So, as he continued to carve out his new home Gehrman grinned widely as he took another swing.
As a new home owner, it was only natural to become acquainted with the neighbors.