There was something odd about Gehrman's Soul Dungeons (as he had taken to calling the labyrinth of separate mini-dimensions that resided high above his Soul).
Of course, their mere existence was beyond anything in recorded and likely non-recorded history. However, what he kept getting stuck on was…why there were so many damn skeletons.
Seriously, he would enter a new room. It would be dank, damp, and musty. An all around not extremely pleasant place already. Then, there would be a slew of foul remains strewn about. Not to mention those lower levels where those damnable rat things lived. The swampy tunnels had far to low ceilings and a great number of gunk coating everything, including the rats.
God, he hated those rats. They always roamed in packs too.
At the moment though he wasn't dealing with those overgrown rodents.
Instead, he was dealing with an impossibly slender, grey-skinned, remnant of an ancient civilization.
Draped in an ethereal yet dirty white cloth. The thing looked impossibly weak, as if a strong breeze would knock it over. In truth, this was an old Pthumerian, or a recreation of one, at least.
Gehrman was of the opinion that back in the real Yharnam (which was somewhere out in the Void, being dreamed up inexplicably by some Great One), the Pthumerians were that entities first attempt at recreating humans that it may have glimpsed within the realities that came from the Flame of Desire.
As such, there was something distinctly alien about them.
Elongated and spindly limbs, taught grey skin, and sunken and dark faces. Indeed, if Gehrman saw them coming from a Nightmare Gate, he would think nothing of it. However, these were once civilized people who lived under the rule of a great ancient queen.
That queen was so influential, her name became that of the city that would be built upon its ruins.
Queen Yharnam.
That being said, it was impossible to call them civilized sentient beings anymore. When Johann entered the Chalice Dungeons, everything tried to immediately kill him, which par for the course for him.
A few remaining Pthumerians were more aggressive than others, some wielding flame in a rather impressive manner.
This one was not a Pthumerian of such power though. It was what he had dubbed, a Pilgrim. They wandered with a long wooden cane, glowing with ethereal light.
It was the light of the Arcane.
Which was why Gehrman hadn't killed it yet.
At the moment, the version of him in the Chalice Dungeons was headed by the Johann brain, as he was the most familiar with the area. Dorian, The Cacophany, and Orphan backed him up while Old Gehrman worked in the Soul Workshop and the True Gehrman worked to conquer the Burned Forest with Song.
Phantasm was also out in the Dream Realm, but he stayed hidden and far away, doing his best to thin out the creatures of the Death Zone while also aiming to become a Tyrant. Now that his intelligence had increased, the Echo was able to comprehend concepts such as Class. So he knew very well the nature of those of the 5th Class, and was aiming to replicate it.
For the first time, he felt he was actually being his most efficient self again.
Part of that self though was making use of what he had let lie for too long – [Gehrman's Hunter Attire].
The Memory had the potential to be Soulbound, which would lead to it and all the Enchantments turning into an Attribute that would allow constant access to the several potent powers granted by the reward from his Aspect Legacy.
All he needed was "Arcane Energy". The only issue was, he had no idea how to go about gathering it. The actual mechanic wasn't an issue, as the attire had an Enchantment for that.
[Arcane Absorption]: This attire has the ability to absorb and hold various energies that hail from higher planes.
That Enchantment was also a hint. It did not specify the bluish-white light that was used in Yharnam and the Chalice Dungeons by certain individuals to be Arcane Energy. Instead, it spoke more broadly. "Energies that hail from higher planes" could mean a lot of things though. The only thing he was fairly confident filled the requirements was the ethereal glow he was familiar with.
That was why he was currently baiting a blast of Arcane power from the Pilgrim.
Except the little shit was being obstinate, just swinging its cane around. Well, when he put it like that it was not entirely truthful.
Though it did not break the sound barrier, this thing was likely equivalent to a Great Monster, and thus possessed the Will.
In fact, everything in these Soul Dungeons had the Will. It was pretty annoying, but also helpful. Being surrounded by the nebulous concept was good practice, and it allowed him to familiarize himself with that power.
With the Will, no real wide-scale destruction occurred throughout the Soul Dungeons. Nothing cracked the old gross stone nor did it send large ripples throughout the entire place. At the same time though, a few well placed blows would kill Gehrman if he did not heal in time.
Fighting like this was quite odd, as it made him feel extremely weak, as if he was back to being a Sleeper.
But by no means was he weakened in this place, it was just that the attack potency of everything had been dialed to the max.
Still, Gehrman had the ultimate advantage that he always had with these enemies.
He knew them.
Every permutation of attacks they could do had long been committed to memory, and so far nothing had surprised him.
Since coming here, he had yet to be touched by any of the Soul Creatures. Which was partially why it was so infuriating that he was spending so much time with this Pilgrim.
He was currently in one of the side chambers just before the "boss room", making sure to collect all the Ritual Blood and whatever materials were necessary for the next Dungeon.
Furthermore, the "boss" of this level would be three Pthumerian Watchers, those fat ugly things were even more dangerous than anything else, but they were also one of the Nightmare Creatures who dropped the new precious resource. It was from one of those that he had gotten his first (and only) Blood Gem.
As he pondered over how he would use that thing, he suddenly and finally got what he was waiting for. The Pilgrim seemed to finally be just as frustrated as him.
It raised its staff high and the ephemeral glow around it sharpened. The details of the room grew starker and more pronounced as the reality responded to the growing power.
Gehrman dodged forward to grab the staff and receive the explosion just as the cane hit the ground.
…then his back hit the wall.
The momentum was such that his head snapped back and cracked against the unyielding stone. His vision blurred, but the Dorian brain quickly healed him before Gehrman became cognisant of the injury.
His eyes refocused on the now trembling and dull Pilgrim. It appeared it was spent.
Gehrman flew forward and lopped off its head in a single swing, ending the tedious game.
He frowned as he considered the turn of events. On the one hand, his plan to create a sort of "farm" out of the Pilgrim was out the window. The thing could only manage one of those blasts, it seemed.
Furthermore, despite the sensation of absorption occurring, it appeared that all the kinetic energy and force that came with the blast still occurred.
Gehrman sighed and pulled up his runes.
After moving to [Gehrman's Hunter Attire], he looked at a certain Enchantment.
[Old Man's Promise]: This attire has the potential to be Soulbound.
Required Arcane Energy: [1/10,000]
Gehrman let out a groan of annoyance. That attack had not been weak by any means, yet all that he got from it was "1" on the counter. He had no idea how the Memory was counting Arcane Energy, but it appeared to be quite a steep cost.
"This is going to take a while…but at least there is finally progress."
Gehrman was fairly certain there was another, much more efficient way to gather Arcane Energies, but at least he now knew of one method.
Lets see, besides the Pilgrims, the Bell-Ringing Woman also has an Arcane attack I believe…any enemies that are related to or fit the classification of Kin of the Cosmos will have those attacks as well.
A few other monstrosities within the Chalice Dungeon popped into his head. Gehrman sighed and trudged forward. This was going to be tedious.