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"Not now. You stand aside. I will deal with you later for delaying in fulfilling your word."
Letting out a tsk of annoyance at Yennefer for being overly sensitive about him ignoring her messages altogether over the past two months, Gustave simply sat beside Cerys and his brother.
Ignoring Yennefer as she scolded Ciri, he then performed a modified Supirre Sign and proceeded to ask, in what sounded like a normal voice to those affected by the spell, "So… what did you guys do in Kerack? Was it really that bad?"
Wanting to gesture for Gustave to keep quiet, Cerys was stunned to see Yennefer merely glance at him before returning to scold Ciri.
When Gustave waved his hand, briefly forming a golden musical note Sign that dimmed almost immediately as a demonstration, Cerys saw the Witchers raise their eyebrows, as if they understood what the Sign meant. She realized that it seemed they were the only ones who could hear Gustave's voice.
Cautiously replying in a normal voice, and only after realizing that it wasn't heard outside, Cerys spoke. By the end of the sentence, her words had grown so heated that her gestures became increasingly obvious, even though the sound was already muted.
"Disasters… Damn it… We've gone and thrown Cintra and Kerack into war, all because of us. But that witch Sabrina, she's the one who lit the spark in the first place. And Milka, Radovid V's own sister… she's cruel. I thought we were friends. How could she do this? How could she loose that insect monster upon the town, killing so many innocents?"
Finally understanding that, while Ciri and her entourage, including Cerys and his brother, had been in Kerack, Sabrina's pupil Millegarda had used the false name Milka to make fools of everyone, Gustave couldn't help but let out a couple of sharp tsk sounds for having fallen for the trick.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Sigh… what a mess."
But he also knew that, sooner or later, the truth would come out. Deducing the existence of an artificial conduit spell was fairly easy, with the real difficulty lying only in confirming it. Because of that, Gustave didn't dwell on it too much and simply treated the whole affair as another form of entropy that surfaced in life from time to time.
Turning to Cerys, he reassured her, "Anyway, don't think too much about it, Cerys. Sooner or later, that secret will leak out one way or another."
"But we treated Milka as a friend. As one of our own. How could she be so cruel, to loose a monster into a town full of people? I… I hate her for this!!"
Rubbing her head and patting her back a few times to calm her down, seeing that she had never truly witnessed the cruelty of the world before, Gustave continued to reassure Cerys, who was still incensed after being treated like an idiot by Millegarda, Radovid's sister.
"It's alright. You had only just met her. You can't see into the human heart, so it's understandable, Cerys. And don't think too much about it. While Millegarda bears responsibility, Sabrina herself is the main reason this happened. Specifically, those ridiculous high heels she wore."
Anséis, seeing his brother calm Cerys, poured milk into his goblet and drank it, quietly spiking it with alcohol since Eskel wouldn't let him drink otherwise.
After steadying his nerves from yet another heartbreak and witnessing the true face of Radovid V's sister, Anséis finally chimed in to explain further.
"The love of my life, Milka, released Idr, brother. An artificially created monster. She did it so she could escape from our entourage after we discovered her involvement with Sabrina Glevissig. Hick. Even though, at the time, we didn't care and didn't know who that witch was, brother. Because of that, almost half of the small town of Ansegis was nearly destroyed."
Then, remembering the rejection and the cold look from Milka, Millegarda as he had learned her real name at the time, Anséis couldn't help but break into tears.
"I thought our love meant something. I thought our promises would last eternally. I thought we would go hand in hand as husband and wife. Hick… but no… She is just like so many others. Cruel and heartless."
Bang!
Drinking the milk until it was empty, Anséis slammed the table. "Eskel is right! It's better not to pour your heart out to a female human! It always ends with me being heartbroken! So from this time forth, I'll just pursue Succubi! They're the only ones who can reciprocate my love!"
Looking at Anséis, who now had the idea of seeking a succubus partner after being rejected by Adrianna, a student of Magika Academia Cintrensis, Jutta an Dimun, her friend who had sworn to marry someone who could best her, and now Millegarda, sister of Radovid V, Cerys just shook her head, staring at Gustave's brother with a strange expression.
She knew that he would simply find another partner to pursue after Millegarda, completely forgetting the last one. As for choosing a succubus as a partner, Cerys couldn't help but recall an adult conversation she had once overheard, where Eskel was mentioned as an expert on the subject.
So, glancing venomously at Eskel for being such a bad influence on Anséis, Cerys gave the Witcher a look, one that clearly communicated her disapproval, while he looked back at her in confusion, completely unaware of the grave influence he had caused.
"What girl?"
Seeing Cerys staring at him with such resentment, Eskel couldn't help but scratch his head, unable to understand why this girl looked at him as if she wanted to kill him.
So just shaking his head, treating it like he would with any other woman who was difficult to read—even one from Skellige, where people usually spoke bluntly—Eskel turned to Gustave.
He wanted to ask in a quiet voice, allowing himself to speak without producing any sound. But without even asking, Eskel saw that the prince already knew he wanted to enter this Supirre Sign bubble, a modified version that, instead of enhancing sound, actually dampened it.
Realizing that someone from Nilfgaard territory could have mastered the Sign to such an extent, Eskel asked, "Did you learn this Supirre Sign from Warritt, Prince?"
Turning toward Eskel, Gustave answered, "No, Master Witcher. I don't know any Witcher named Warritt. I once saw the Sign's hand coordination in the Cintra library and decided to modify it after understanding the underlying principles of the spell. That's why I was able to create this."
Whistling in admiration, Eskel couldn't help but shake his head and remark, "Truly, the rumors about you are true. The smartest kid of this generation—not only in scholarly pursuits but in magical pursuits as well."
Chuckling, Gustave added, "Still, Master Witcher, because of that, it drove Foltest, Vizimir II, Henselt, and Demavend III mad when their siege engines were copied by me, all due to my cleverness in scholarly matters. And the Chapter has always tried to get their hands on me because of my talent in magical matters, doing their best to enroll me in their academy."
Remembering the many assassins and mages he had to eliminate due to a suspicious contact he had carried out together with Anséis, who wanted to become his pupil but inadvertently made himself a target by proxy of both Anséis and Gustave, Eskel nodded solemnly. Patting the back of the kid who had been forced to mature early, he said, "I feel you, kid."
Looking at Eskel oddly, Gustave corrected, "No, Master Witcher. My life has been relatively calm, to the point that I can pursue my studies in peace. Unlike you and everyone else, Master Eskel, you're the one who has to put your life on the line. So, as a token of appreciation, here, Master Eskel, I will teach you how to upgrade your Sign to the next stage of lethality."
Tapping Eskel on the back of the neck to transfer the sensations telepathically, Gustave conveyed the feelings of the Signs he had modified and devised, which he could easily create after activating his Source and using his usual deep neural-network-like computation to calculate from a zero point across a googol seconds into the past and future.
He transferred only the sensations, not the knowledge of how to create them. Just like a pyramid that can stand properly if constructed exactly as designed without understanding the underlying physics and mathematics, Gustave did the same for Eskel.
He made him aware that his Signs could achieve these effects, but did not provide the framework or instructions for creating them, leaving Eskel unable to modify or develop them freely on his own.
Gustave reasoned that if Eskel decided to study deeply, like Geralt's version in the gameplay universe that allowed Aard to gain a freezing effect, or Warritt's Supirre Sign, which evolved from simple eavesdropping into echolocation, he would be able to figure it out. But without that level of study, the underlying mechanics of the spell would remain a mystery.
So he transferred a weaker version of the Laser Igni Sign, which functioned as a concentrated blowtorch. Although it was not at the level of a true laser, it was still impressive.
He also transferred a weakened Dampened Supirre Sign that functioned like a soundproof room, though not at the level of an anechoic chamber designed to eliminate reflections or echoes of sound or electromagnetic waves.
He included the Arcane Projectile Yrden Sign, which he gave at face value without a weaker version, as it was something he performed intuitively.
That intuition stemmed from his understanding of various field theories, from classical field dynamics and quantum mechanical fields to abstract mathematical fields and even concepts related to a Grand Unified Theory, something that could not be reverse engineered, as it required an encompassing knowledge of modern science from the seventeenth century onward.
Finally, there was the Controlled Leaf Blower Aard Sign, which he had once used to gather the ash of burned objects. Gustave gave these modified Signs to Eskel as a way of thanking him for looking after Anséis and for indirectly dealing with the scheming minions who sought to get their hands on him, someone who rarely ventured outside.
When the transfer was complete, Gustave finally said, "Go ahead, Master Eskel. Test the new Sign."
Looking at the kid, who was no more than six years old, Eskel couldn't help but regard him with admiration, as if he were witnessing another Jan Bekker of humanity. But being too eager to test the new kind of Sign he had just received, Eskel quickly pushed that thought to the back of his mind and decided to try the upgraded version of Igni first.
"Igni."
Rrrshhh.
Seeing the contracted jet of fire grow even more concentrated, compressing into a knife-length line of searing heat, Eskel then aimed it at the table. Shocked at how quickly it turned the wood into charcoal, he was unable to test the next Sign after noticing Lambert walking toward their side of the table, already knowing what Lambert wanted to say.
"Hey, kid. Teach me how to do that Igni, and this Supirre bubble too, would you?"
"Okay, that's it! I can't stand this anymore!"
Zizzle, crack!
Seeing his Supirre bubble being dismantled, Gustave couldn't help but let out a loud tsk of annoyance.
"Now, Ciri, you go back to your room and think about what you have done! And the rest of you, come. Let's go to the lab to perform the first improved creation of Witchers without any fatality. And you, insufferable kid, you need to tell me how you are able to calculate all possible combinations of folding known proteins without having a mage tower."
Looking at her like an insufferably proud peacock, Gustave simply answered while swaggering into the lab, "Why should I tell you, Granny Yen—"
Zizzle, crack!
Quen activated, modifying itself to act like a lightning rod. Gustave channeled the lightning spell that had been used to char his hair bald back toward the caster.
Zizzle, crack.
But because it was Yennefer he was dealing with, he saw the reflected lightning easily deflected. Unable to help himself, he let out another tsk and continued, slightly raising his chin and articulating each word venomously, "Granny… Yennefer…"
"Uuuuhh. Kid, you're playing with fire."
"Another word…"
Ignoring Lambert's snide remark but secretly delighted, as evidenced by the slight smirk on his face, Gustave chuckled while looking at Yennefer, who was red as a tomato. Not wanting to turn this into outright hostility, he raised his hands in surrender.
"Okay, okay, jeez. You're no fun, Lady Yennefer."
Seeing the slight smirks on everyone present, likely born from having once been on the receiving end of Yennefer's bossy attitude, Gustave chuckled again and followed the group of sorcerers and Witchers into the lab to witness the first-ever creation of Witchers without any fatality.
"So, care to tell me how you're able to do it? Because it's not physically possible to calculate all those combinations unless you have a mage tower to help with your computations."
Shrugging, Gustave gave a perfunctory answer to Yennefer's question. "Well, there is nothing impossible, Lady Yennefer. It doesn't matter how I do it. What matters is that the result is satisfactory, is it not?"
"Oh, how I wish to char that golden hair of yours."
Chuckling at the sight of the incensed Yennefer, with crackling lightning already flickering in her eyes, Gustave knew better than to tell her about the deep neural network model he had created to calculate all the protein combinations she kept throwing at him, combinations she had likely estimated would yield only a hundred viable results.
The model he used was essentially akin to AlphaFold, something that would bring countless complications if it ever became public knowledge, especially on the Northern Continent, where biological studies ran deep.
Of course, without a computer system, the model would be little more than another algorithm. But considering that he could perform deep neural network computations using his [Knowledge] ability and Elder Blood ability, he knew there was a possibility that others could eventually do the same through their own forms of time magic.
Time magic that turned him into a single node in a neural network, calculating simple parameters from his past self and passing them to his future self, which would then produce an output depending on the model he used.
In other words, he was effectively turning every version of himself, through his Elder Blood ability, into a unified form of Artificial Intelligence, or more accurately, a non-artificial neural network, since he was a biological being.
This was also the main reason he could modify spells on the fly and study entirely new fields of knowledge, such as the material science of Vibranium, which required the discovery of new structures because it did not originate in this world, or even on his Earth.
That was why he could learn so quickly. He could simply pass the input data to his future self after calculating the node weights from his past self and let the Elder Blood neural network handle the rest. This begged the question of whether additional computing power was redundant, considering that his Elder Blood was already sufficient.
Still, being human and possessed of inexhaustible desire, he always felt that it was not enough. And of course, the faster his hardware became, the faster and deeper his calculations could go.
That was why, all things considered, he still needed to improve his computing power. For the nodes to function optimally, he needed to treat himself as a dedicated neural network, thus creating a nested neural network.
This was especially apparent when considering that even generational scientists like Newton and Max Planck, on his Earth and with limited cognitive capacity and no computational aids, were able to discover and intuit fundamental rules of the universe.
He assumed that this effect would be even more pronounced in a world where people had access to magic as an observational tool to explore those same fundamental laws.
"What in the blazing name is this mind of yours. Not even a single thought can be glimpsed."
Coming out of his contemplation, Gustave looked at Yennefer with amusement and tried to counter-read her mind. But finding only quiet grassy land, he couldn't help but tsk and remark in return, "You are the same, Lady Yennefer. Only…"
Because he wanted to mess with her mind, Gustave decided to cheat by using his Witcher lore knowledge, continuing, "Only that your thoughts are on the unicorn and Geralt. Please, my lady, do you have a better defense system? I am still six. It is inappropriate for you to put those things up."
Seeing her pupils dilate, followed by a frown as he finally succeeded in messing with Yennefer's mind, Gustave just chuckled at the sight of her face scrunching up.
Shaking his head, he then turned to watch the sorcerers of the New Kaer Morhen attempt, for the first time in a long while, to create a new Witcher without any fatality, an improvement brought about largely thanks to Yennefer after refining her magic while treating him.
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