Name: Milo.
True Name: —
Rank: Sleeper.
Soul Fragments: [0/1,000]
Memories: [Sauntering Jewel]
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Unnatural Rune Witness], [Unbroken]
Aspect: [Salient Artist].
Aspect Rank: [Sacred]
[Aspect Description]: A practitioner of the primordial Old Arts whose power lies in twisting the Spirit of the world. In invoking such powers the world becomes your canvas and your Soul a most vital instrument.
[Innate Ability]: Eyes of Total Spectrum
[Eyes of Total Spectrum]: Your eyes peer into the colors and dimensions that only Great beings and gods can meddle with. The Spirits of the world are laid bare before you.
[Dormant Ability]: Vital Instrument
[Vital Instrument]: From the depths of your Soul you may conjure whatever you may need to complete your art. Any manifestation will be able to perform the Old Arts.
Flaw: [Sewn Shut]
[Sewn Shut]: You can not communicate with others.
…
Later, Gehrman would generate many strategies to help Milo. He used every resource at his disposal to create a unique curriculum. Though he did the same for every Sleeper in the New Workshop in order to train them in both survival and their Aspect, for Milo he went the extra mile.
Each Sleeper would be given enough Soul Shards to saturate the majority of their Soul Cores, after all those that Awakened with full Soul Cores would reap the most benefits. On top of this, he also made sure they had proper Memories.
Gehrman had enough weapons and attire from His 2nd Nightmare to outfit all of them. Though it pained him slightly to drastically reduce his arsenal…this would not remain the case for long. With Sunny's help, he was hoping to develop his Ascended Ability to the point of creating basic Memories.
But that would come later.
That night the old cohort did not simply discuss Milo and his Aspect, it also included all the new knowledge that they had acquired.
Gehrman, of course, had a lot to share about the New Workshop and his new abilities. But surprisingly, they had almost as much to share.
Each of them had become entirely different beasts now that they were Ascended.
Cassie now had the abilities to "borrow" the perspectives of the people around her, effectively returning her sight to a degree. Not only that, she could experience multiple perspectives at once, vastly improving her ability to sense the surroundings.
Effie had previously only received abilities that enhanced herself. But now, anyone who saw her could be granted a physical boost not dissimilar to her own (although on a much lesser scale).
Kai's had gotten perhaps the largest boost in power. Before, his abilities were quite mundane (at least compared to the cohort). His Dormant Ability allowed him flight while his Awakened ability made his sight supernaturally sharp, allowing him to see through most things, even mystical ones.
So far, it seemed his Aspect did not have a common thread, much like Gehrman's. In other words, he lacked a unique identity. So far, he was exceptional due to his own skill with a bow. Only now did he receive an ability that truly reflected him. His voice had always been special, though he wasn't well known in the Outskirts, during the short time he lived with Sunny he had seen Kai's name a few times on social media.
But now, his voice held a powerful mystical quality. His words and song were laced with a power that could both command and enhance. It was a universal and versatile ability that could be used as a buff to his companions and a debuff to his enemies.
And then of course there was Sunny.
In terms of raw destructive ability he was definitely lacking compared to Gehrman and Changing Star. And though he still lacked an attack that would be equivalent to a powerful explosion, he now had something that could do similar damage.
His Ascended Ability granted him control of external shadows, and not only that but he could also turn them tangible. It was eerily similar to Gehrman's own power [Blood Control], but the young man's Source Element seemed far more insidious. After all, blood could only come from oneself and his enemies…but shadows lurked everywhere.
"How terrifying you have all become," Gehrman chuckled. "Already, you seem much stronger than the average Master, once you fill your cores…I shudder to think of what you could accomplish."
Surprisingly, they did not seem to be enthused about the praise. It appeared they had all become a bit more subdued after their nightmare.
"Yes, I suppose we will be. But it is still not enough," Sunny glanced at his allies, and they seemed to come to a silent agreement. "In terms of the world powers, we are woefully inadequate, unable to bring any real change as mere Ascended."
Gehrman's eyebrows raised. The way they were talking, it was as if they knew about…
"The Sovereigns," Cassie said with a wary whisper.
"Do you know about them?"
…Well, I guess I should not be too surprised, Gehrman thought. They are Master's now, and I think most at that level are made aware.
"Yes, I have encountered them," Gehrman paused then.
"I have only met one though."
Kai had a sudden fit at those words. It was something between a yelp, cough, and laugh. Quite odd.
Gehrman raised an eyebrow as the rest of them paled at Kai's reaction.
"Uh, you good?"
Sunny leveled a gaze at Gehrman with a forced smile on his face.
"Kai's 'flaw'" Sunny said the last word with air quotes. "Is that he can tell when someone is lying. And judging by that reaction…" he trailed off. Not bothering to explain what this meant.
Without saying a word it was clear that Gehrman was telling the truth.
"Gehrman," Cassie said sternly. "Please elaborate on anything and everything that has happened while we were gone."
…
It took a few hours for Gehrman to regurgitate the saga of events that went down while they were in the 2nd Nightmare. Though he skimmed over things like advancing in construction, architecture, and engineering, it still took a while. Mostly because he had to recount word-for-word anything involving the Legacys.
At the end, they all looked understandably flabbergasted. However, Cassie appeared more pensive than the rest of them, considering the implications no doubt. As someone who lacked incredible combat power, she had to evolve as a schemer and strategist in order to keep up with the powerhouses that surrounded her.
"Caster actually fought against Valor," Sunny said, incredulous. "What kind of brainwashing did you have him under?"
Gehrman could only shrug.
"I would like to say he has changed his ways and became a better person, but it's more like his pride is just warped in a way that is allowing him to rationalize such behavior. And I guess I did that just by verbally berating him and having him fight hundreds of Nightmare Creatures."
"Damn," Effie shook her head. "I thought you were scary before, but we leave in a year and you somehow build a city, become its dictator, and basically form a Legacy Clan."
Gehrman opened his mouth to refute, but struggled to find any truly incorrect claims in her accusation.
"So each Trick Weapon isn't a Memory, but it has a strength roughly equivalent to the materials it's made from?" Sunny asked.
"Yeah," Gehrman nodded. "Memories would be much more convenient, but they can be reliably produced. The main issue is that they can't be taken into Nightmares, and if we want to outfit Awakened in the Dream Realm with them, we'll have to create an engineering hub there. And with there being no technology there…it will probably take a couple years."
Upon confirmation of this, he started to get a thoughtful look in his eyes. He didn't say anything, but appeared to be debating something in his mind. Whatever it was, he decided to postpone it.
"But the prospect of that is enough to make even the Great Clans take action," Kai said with wonder.
"About them, it seems you all are a lot more invested in them now. I barely heard you talk about them when you were Awakened. What changed." Gehrman noted.
"Because war is coming," Cassie sounded with solemnity.
"If it wasn't inevitable before, it is now."
Gehrman's brows furrowed. Of course he knew all about the war between Valor and Song, but for the old cohort to be so invested in it…
Nightmares took place in the ancient past of the Dream Realm. How could they have entered it, and then come back worrying about issues in the present day? The only thing even remotely related current events were the aspirants undergoing the Nightmare.
A sudden thought occurred then.
"Was it not just you 4 in the Nightmare? Was there someone else?"
And immediately each of their faces darkened.
"Yeah," Sunny confirmed. "A real maniac. And now he's Ascended."
After a brief pause the young man took a deep breath.
"His name is Mordret. Just like me he has a Divine Aspect. Only in his case, he is already a Titan. Not only that, he had become an Awakened when he was 12 and is also the biological son of Valor's Sovereign."
This surprised Gehrman quite a bit.
"In all of his research on the Great Clans he never once came across the mention of such a person.
"So now Valor has an advantage with this powerful ally and they are going to press Song?" Gehrman guessed.
Unnervingly, Sunny chuckled darkly at this assumption.
"Remember how I said he was a maniac? That wasn't exaggeration, the guy is completely off his rocker. He's hardly even a human…and apparently his dad saw that and decided it would be best to get rid of him. The thing is though, even with the powers of a Supreme, the guy just wouldn't die. His physical body in the waking world was destroyed, and in the Dream Realm he had been trapped on a private Citadel in Chained Isle for over a decade."
This was a lot to take in.
The fact that a Supreme could not fully kill a mere Awakened, only managing to trap him, was unbelievable. Even with all the insane things Gehrman had pulled off that feat seemed beyond him.
"Ah," another memory flashed in Gehrman's mind. "That time you were gone with Cassie for a few weeks, you said you accidentally unleashed a monster and Clan Valor was pissed you."
Sunny nodded.
"The bastard…actually pulled one over on me. I didn't know it at the time, but I had been lugging around a shard of mirror from a creature he had created. His Aspect is terrifying. He can invade your soul, travel through mirrors, and create mirror creations by sacrificing his Soul Cores. Not only that, those mirror creations can also grow as Nightmare Creatures, meaning there is nothing stopping them from becoming Fallen with enough time, especially because their whole thing is that they can mirror the Aspect and abilities of their opponent."
It struck Gehrman that this was all stuff that he could do with his Innate, Dormant, and Awakened ability. That level of versatility was indeed truly terrifying. Combined with his inability to be killed…well, now that he was an Ascended, Gehrman wondered if his title as the strongest Master would be lost to this new beast.
"This Mordret…I suppose he holds a vendetta against Valor then."
"I would describe it more as a twisted obsession," Cassie said.
"His desire for revenge and the malice he has aren't like anything I've ever seen, even in the Nightmares and all my visions."
What a sobering thought.
"So I got it backward, Song just got a crazy powerful ally and they want to push the advantage."
"It would make the most sense if he joined them. Even he can't do any real damage to Valor by himself."
Gehrman leaned back in his chair and considered this. With such a monster loose, the psychological tool on the Valor higher ups who knew about Mordret would likely be a massive motivator in continuing the war.
But where did that leave Gehrman?
He was an ally with Song, if anything this was good news.
The only issue was that the ability for the New Workshop to maintain neutrality was dwindling. Actual violence might be brought against it if they did not pick a side, and kept supplying everyone in the war.
Several ideas flooded his mind as he tried to come up with some kind of work around or loophole.
One possibility stuck out to him, but it would be rather difficult. Not only that, it would take months, if not years to pull off. And even then he might not be able to manage until he reached a higher Rank.
And then there was the upcoming Winter Solstice.
And at the end of the day, everything could come after that.
Ensuring the survival and advancement of his Sleepers into Awakened was paramount.
"Thanks for the heads up," Gehrman said with a sigh.
"Going forward, I'd like it if we could get together like this more often. I'll always have your guys' backs so if you need anything, just let me know…actually, is Valor still on your back about the whole Mordret thing?"
"Actually," Cassie said. "We are meeting with a Valor representative to talk about that in a few weeks."
…
The cohort decided to spend a night in a newly built guest house in the New Workshop. It was built next to Cathedral Ward with the idea that it could be used to host Legacies if need be. Naturally, it had enough room for the four of them.
The next morning three of them left, but Sunny stayed behind.
"About the Trick Weapons you've been producing, do you think I could take a look at them?"
From the shadows' eyes Gehrman could tell the young man had something more in mind, but he dutifully brought him over to the Workshop Proper where the manufacturing was centered.
At the moment, only 5 things were being produced enmasse. Saw Spears, Blades of Mercy (the weapon used by the Hunter of Hunters and the preferred weapon of Bitz), Hunter Axes, Reiterpallasch, and firearms.
There were many more that Gehrman produced on the side, but things like Kirkhammers weren't feasible for Mundane people to use. At the moment, he had just made a handful of them for the Sleepers with strength enhancement to use.
Unfortunately, since they wouldn't be able to take them into the Dream Realm, he was having them mostly practice with any weapon Memories they did have.
Seeing all these designs Sunny got a strange look on his face and asked for a private conversation where no one else could hear.
Once one such room was provided, Sunny took a deep breath and revealed a piece of information that nearly caused Gehrman to fall out of the chair he was sitting in.
And it all started with a chair that Sunny was sitting in.
Once they got to the safe space Sunny had summoned a Memory. To Gehrman's confusion, it was a beautifully crafted and ornate chair.
"I didn't know the Spell made things like this, is it a tool?" Gehrman asked in confusion.
"It actually…dosen't. Which is to say, this wasn't a gift from the Spell, but something I made for myself."
Gehrman's eyes narrowed in confusion.
The chair was clearly a Memory, so how on earth could it not be from the Spell? The only logical conclusion was…
A bead of sweat dropped down Gehrman's forehead.
"No fucking way."
[With Eyes on The Inside] he peered through dimensions and once again saw the inner workings of a Memory.
The incredibly complex Weave and nodes were the same, albeit less intricate than other Memories he had seen.
But there was one incredibly major difference.
Of course, that was the fact that the strings of ethereal Essence that made up the weave…were actually made of ethereal shadows.
"You…made a Memory? How on earth did you do that with Shadows?"
Sunny grimaced as though he did not want to answer such a thing. But eventually, he did.
"You recall that I have a Daemons blood don't you? Well a while back I actually got Daemons bones on top of one of their sewing needles. Naturally, with such things I was able to reverse engineer the lost sorcery of the Daemon: Weaving. Since I was trapped in a coliseum and forced to murder dozens of Nightmare Creatures every day, I had all the time in the world to figure it out."
All Gehrman could do was stare, mouth agape.
"You learned a Daemon's sorcery in a single year?"
"...Technically it took a couple months to make my first Memory. And then that Memory was destroyed immediately. I'm still a novice at best."
He paused and looked a bit sheepish.
"So, you know, I could use some practice. And in order to make a stable Memory I need whatever it is to have the appropriate quality of materials…and since you seem to have an abundance of already forged weapons as well as a surplus of Soul Shards…well I wouldn't be opposed to outfitting your Sleepers. For a price."
…
Gehrman may have been running a bit low on funds but that did not mean he couldn't easily acquire more. Instead of putting the Soul Shards from Gate Crises into the vault in the Grave Citadel he simply threw them at Sunny's feet.
The shadow may have asked for some extra Soul Shards for his services, but that was more than worth it for Gehrman.
He even went to the Dream Realm to slaughter a myriad of other Nightmare Creatures to further regenerate his Supply since he could bring some back as an Ascended.
All the while Sunny worked tirelessly.
The main focus, and the first Memories he made were actually armor types. Granted, since they were more in the style of Yharnam it was more appropriate to call them attire. Still, since Gehrman used the leather-like skin and tough shell of the Turtle-like Nightmare Creatures to produce the garments while also providing Sunny with Ascended shards to act as the base, they proved most useful.
Most Legacy Clans would not outfit their members with such advanced Memories during the Winter Solstice. It was a right of passage for them to come back with their own strength.
Gehrman thought that was bullshit and decided to give them every possible advantage.
He spent 10 hours a day training them, 6 hours crafting the garments (and later Trick Weapons) and the rest of the day Hunting.
Sunny, who was now Ascended, also spent no time sleeping. After the one week mark he took some energy patches from the Government in order to stay sharp.
Additionally, Gehrman also gave the [Anti-Clockwise Metamorphosis] Caryll Rune (and the respective Attribute) to Sunny. Then, he had the other three come over to get it on them as well. He considered getting them other Runes, but he decided against it.
Each "charge" of the Rune Workshop Tool would drain 1 Insight from him. And after applying it to his higher ups, and Sleepers he was down to 62 Insight.
Though, it was worth noting that it had been 83 after all the Rune Workshop Tool had worked all those times.
What had taken the rest was his third ability [Walking Workshop].
As it turned out, with the Twin Bloodstone Shards he gained he could actually increase the potency, and later Rank of his Memories.
At the moment, he had only done this to one, the [Greedy Bloodstone Talisman]. It was incredibly versatile and useful, but as a Dormant Memory it offered an incredibly meager support.
But after slaughtering many Soul Beasts and acquiring a great number of Twin Bloodstone Shards, he was able to apply them to the Memory in his Soul Workshop through trial and error.
He had not known that it would actually increase in Rank at the time, but when it did become Awakened he started to search for Blood Chunks to turn it into an Ascended. And Gehrman was indeed on the cusp of such a feat.
But the cost of it was great, and he was hesitant to do it for any other of his Memories, let alone somebody else's.
But with Sunny's work that didn't matter.
The teenagers looked a bit goofy in Yharnam attire, but they seemed to have fun with it. The identity of a Hunter and what it represented started to spread among the New Workshop as a unique kind of Awakened. Specifically, Awakened from the Outskirts. Though no Awakened had truly been born yet (the Solstice was still a few days away) it appeared that the excitement of the Sleepers at receiving these supplies made them show it off whenever possible.
…It was a bit heartwarming to see such childish acts.
It reminded him that though the world had tried its best to break them, these children were far too strong to yield to its cruelty.
But this Yharnam Hunter training only took up 3 hours of their day. The majority of it was spent hammering in Survival Lessons into them with the remaining times letting them get used to their Aspect Abilities.
Most had fairly normal ones with Bitz and Milo being the exception. The First Sleeper of The Workshop (as he had taken to calling himself) had a Transcendent Aspect Rank.
Despite his tendency to brag and show off his power, he would clam up whenever the topic of his First Nightmare came up.
It was only natural that something horrific had to happen for the Spell to award him with such a powerful Ability.
And it truly was powerful. He could phase his body in a way that he could fall through the floor, walk through walls, and (if timed correctly) allow attacks to go right through him.
Most of the time he was practicing only phasing part of his body. Dropping under the floor every time one wanted to dodge was not ideal after all.
And then there was Milo. Gehrman could only imagine what happened to him in order to be granted a legendary Sacred Aspect.
But whatever it was, it granted him nearly unmatched potential.
After a few hours of persuasion, Gehrman had the boy try out his Aspect.
The issue was, even with his Runes translated the "Old Arts" remained largely elusive. It wasn't until 2 days before the solstice that he managed to create something that appeared to fit the criteria.
He had been manifesting paint brushes from the very start with his ability, which wasn't surprising. These items would take on the colors and textures of whatever was around them at the time, and they would remain that way until a "piece" of Old Art was done.
They figured this out after Milo nearly flooded his room after drawing a river. He had done something to make that specific piece fit the criteria of the Old Art. But, naturally, he could not communicate what it was.
Over the next two days he experimented and became semi consistent.
It would take an hour or so of dedicated painting for the piece to be completed and alter reality. That time would likely take less and less the more he practiced, but the good news was that the resulting constructs seemed to have an absurdly high bar of power.
The flooding of his room wasn't an exaggeration. It was literally filled half way with water, and only after a few moments did Milo do something that managed to dismiss it. Not only that, but the Water carried with it the meager but noticeable quality of being of the Dormant Rank.
It wasn't until Milo created a Turtle statue that Gehrman actually realized this, but it turned out that these "pieces" matched his Rank.
There were a few other things they managed to figure out. First, the piece would manifest best if drawn on no paper or canvas of any kind. Instead, there was a beautiful and ephemeral process where he would take the "paint" from his surroundings (that would manifest after waving the brush near a specific texture, object, color, or thing) and painting on the air itself.
A stroke of his brush actually created an invisible canvas out of thin air. And for some reason, this would always result in the piece meeting the relevant criteria.
All of this was incredibly convoluted and the practicality seemed both endless and nonexistent. And though Gehrman could offer suggestions, without actual feedback it was tough to figure out what he was struggling with.
By the time the Winter Solstice came around, Gehrman was at least semi-confident that Milo could fend for himself.
His physicality was lacking, but it was still much better than a twelve year olds.
As for the other Sleepers, he was confident they would all be able to find their way to a Citadel.
The time came, and each of them had been given Hunter Attire, creatively titled [Hunter Attire 1], [Hunter Attire 2] and so on. And though the Ascended Memories had no enchantments, Gehrman was sure it would serve them well.
On top of that, Sunny was even able to turn a couple of Trick Weapons into Memories. For the rest of them though, Gehrman offered some of his weaker Memories he had gotten from his 2nd Nightmare.
Due to his unique nature and odd relationship to the Spell. He could only give them up by cutting their tether to his Soul and leaving them to pick it up and bond with it.
And since Gehrman could not do the same, there was no way for him to get the Memories back.
But that didn't really matter, since he wouldn't be needing them.
Sunny, in the form of a shadow, had joined Gehrman in seeing them all off into their slumber. They were all located in a separate, above ground facility (also near Cathedral Ward). It was fortified, because after they returned it was likely their Awakened Ability would activate without their knowing, which could lead to issues.
But no real guards or firearms were needed in case things went wrong. After all, if one died in the Dream Realm, they would not become Nightmare Creatures.
Instead, they would turn into Hollows.
Empty shells with no real life.
"They will return," Gehrman said to himself.
The shadows seemed to deepen in response.
Sunny agreed with him.