Shin looked around and he perceived that the other subjects seemed to be assimilating the memories and it was taking them a lot of time, much more than what time he took for it. Not like these poor subjects had former memories or access to the TrueSoul.

The scientists also took note of this fact, as Kageyoshi ordered Kevin and the rest of his subordinates, “It seems that the ocular quirk of subject 07 has improved his mental capabilities. Keep an eye on him and never utilize any mind manipulation skills on him. We don’t want him having any resentment towards us because of that. Also, it is safe to assume, that the compulsion serum did not have any effect on him.”

The Head Scientist, called out to Lara, “Make sure to grow positive feelings towards us and the Hero Association from him. Even better, make him aspire to become a hero. Other subjects would only need little bit of pushing in the initial stages, due to the compulsion serum, but subject 07 would require much more effort.”

Lara answered, “Yes, I will do that, Head. And it looks like we have a lot of time for subject 07, since the experiment seem to have de-aged him and he looks like a ten-year-old now. Other subjects would have to join various Hero Courses in about a year's time, but subject 07 only needs to be admitted in about five years. And that is enough time to do instill such feelings.”

“You are right about that, so utilize every moment to help him create a good personality. And don’t forget to teach him how to use his quirk effectively,” the Head Scientist said agreeing to Lara’s response.

He continued, “Anyway, I will now distribute to you, your respective duties. Lara, take care of Subject 07, since he will require the most effort from your side. Subject 45 and 109 will be taken care off by Kiara, Subject 10 and 14 by Shaun and Delvin respectively. And finally, I'll personally take care of Subject 1. Kevin, you have the overall responsibility to keep tabs and observe every subject and their progress.”

“Yes, Head,” they replied in unison. The scientists, grabbed ahold of the subjects they became responsible for, and led them out of the laboratory through the door, which the head scientist had entered from.

As Shin walked behind Lara, he exited the laboratory into a long but wide corridor. They continued their stride as the others slowly separated from them into different passages. During this, he had come across various rooms, on either side of the corridor with distinctive labels on them.

Lara, stopped in front of one such room and opened the door using her ID, she was wearing. As she moves into the room, she signaled Shin to follow her in. With a casual shrug, he entered and immediately noticed how spacious it was. It was rectangular in shape with a large bed, kitchen, bathroom, sofa, TV, tables and chairs, cupboards, and many other items.

Shin was easily able to identify them, only because of the information packet Lara passed onto him with her quirk. Or else he would have stumbled to understand what half of things were, as it was all new to him. Still, he was getting full of curiosity to just try out all the technological instruments especially, the television. But he restrained himself just for the time being.

“From now on, this is your room in which you will be staying,” spoke Lara, seeing how Shin was finished inspecting the room turned towards him. She continued, “Go get a bath, put on a dress from the cupboard, once you have done that, let's have a proper talk.” She then turned around, moved toward the sofa, sat on it and started to watch the TV.

Though intrigued by the television, Shin still prioritized the necessity to wash and finally cover himself with some clothes, as he had been completely bare till now. Thankfully, he had grown enough shamelessness, to not feel embarrassment, just because some people saw his nudity.

After entering the bathroom which was pointed out by Lara, he closed the door behind him. In front of him, he saw a large body-sized mirror. as he started examining himself, “Hmm…My body is quite young and with a good dose of muscles here and there, I look really striking. Thank Heavens, I have kept my black hair. I had liked it quite a lot and would have been sad if I had lost it somehow. But this appearance is the exact replica of when I was actually some nine-ten years old! Is this what Iris was talking about me, keeping my appearance?”

“Although the color of one my irises has changed into golden. Maybe, it is because of my ocular type quirk?” Shin theorised, “If it is true, then that means, skills can cause changes in the base appearance. Another factor, I should take into consideration while selecting the skill that I will upload.”

Shin abruptly clenched his hand and felt himself awfully weaker than his peak self. He sighed once again slightly regretful about his lost cultivation. While consoling himself, he entered into the shower and started washed his body. Once he was done, he quickly dried his hair, opened the cupboard nearby, selected a black t-shirt, a blue trouser and a pair of white shoes, and wore them.

Once he was all ready and proper, he went upto Lara, who was busy watching the news on the sofa and did not notice him. As he neared the sofa, he coughed to gain her attention and she finally saw him. When she did though, she exclaimed and let out a whistle, “You look quite a charmer, 07.”

“Thank you for the compliment, Ms. Lara.” smiled Shin.

Hearing his response stunned Lara and her expression was so funny that it made Shin laugh a little. He continued, “It seems my quirk, as you call it, gave me high mental capabilities, which allowed me to process the memory you gave me much more efficiently. Thus, I have come to understand what I am and my current situation, in depth. And I felt the need to inform you, about this information. After all, you are the ones who created me in the first place, so I don’t think you would have any bad intentions towards me. ”

Yeah, that was a lie. Though it was mixed with some truth to make it believable. It was not his quirk but instead his former experience as well as the presence of the TrueSoul that had made it happen. But the woman in front of him, or anyone for that matter need not to know about it. Additionally, the reason he decided to tell her about this information was not because he trusted them, but because he didn’t want to waste his time acting like a dumb person, until the other subjects caught up.

It took a while for Lara to process what he had said. Once she did, she immediately stood up, took her phone and contacted someone. She reported about Shin’s situation and his ability which took a while. Then, she seemed to have receive some instructions of what to do.

Lara, stopped her call and began asking a lot of questions about the things he had already understood and even gave more information from her side such as the purpose of the experiment, what Shin would have to do in the future, and numerous other things as they kept on discussing for hours.

During the lengthy conversation, Shin decided to test out his quirk. This was because he identified this was the best time to do so, as he knew exactly what Lara’s quirk was. And from the information packet he had received, he knew that each person in this world, only had one quirk to themselves. Of course, other than a certain infamous villain. Nevertheless, due to this, she would not be able to catch him if he were to use his quirk.

Now, according to his previous discernment, by looking deep into himself, the quirk grants him a special sight that could see through the karmic threads connected to people and thus understand their emotions and intents, when he willed for it. Additionally, he was also passively immune to all light-based illusions.

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When he activated his quirk, Karmic Vision his sight shifted. He suddenly was able to perceive numerous threads that were connected to him. The same could be said for Lara as well. There was even one thread that were directly connecting him and Lara, while rest connected to who knows where.

But with his prior knowledge about karmic abilities, he deduced that the threads connected to those people whom they had a slightest of relationship with. For him, that would include the people whom he had met, the people who had aided in his creation directly or indirectly, and so on.

He stopped focusing on the other threads and concentrated on the thread that was connecting him and Lara. He mentally touched it and suddenly he could feel certain foreign emotions. It was a very small amount, and it didn’t really affect him, but he could guess what these emotions were.

It was a mix of joy, surprise, anticipation and pride. There was a certain bit of guilt also mixed in, together with sadness. These emotions kept changing from time to time but overall, she had displayed these six different types of emotion during the discussion. He was also able to perceived intents like compassion, kindness, and resolve from her. With the help of these emotions and intents, Shin was able to picture more or less what Lara was feeling at a time.

There were also certain times where he felt an intent of deceit. And he quickly realized that Lara was speaking some false information when he had sensed that intent. He was becoming more and more amazed at this quirk of his, as he now not only able to feel the emotions and intent, but also detect lies. Shin also discovered that he could discern sentences containing both truths and lies, pinpointing which parts were factual and which were deceptive.

Though he did hypothesize that, if the speaker genuinely believed what they were saying, he would detect that as a truth as there would be no intent for deceit. Therefore, he understood the necessity of maintaining caution and never entirely trust this aspect of his quirk completely.

Anyway, the talks continued and Shin kept on testing the various aspects of his quirks and attempted get a good control over all of it. During the discussion, Lara emphasized the importance of training his quirk so that after five years he would be able to enroll into a hero academy. She also advised him to start learning some physical combat techniques that would aid in his future hero career.

When she asked him what type of combat techniques he would like to learn, he was stumped. He was majorly a pugilist i.e. someone who focused in hand-to-hand combat. Therefore, he didn't use any weapons during his time in the cultivation world. However, he knew he could not waste this chance that is being given to him, as learning hand to hand combat would be useless, because he was already an expert in it.

After a bit of contemplation, Shin decided that he would learn to use weapons and not just one, but different kinds of weapons during his entire journey. For this particular plane, he determined that learning a spear would be the most effective and efficient.

Well, he could have decided any other weapon but he was more fascinated on a spear when compared to the other weapons and therefore he had selected it as the first weapon. That and the fact that his quirk being a non-combat type, he didn't really want to fight head-on in close combat and wished to maintain a small distance between himself and his enemies, whoever they would be. For that, a spear, pole, halberd, scythe or something similar would all be preferable and while learning the spear, he would try to learn the other similar weapons too, as the principles they use, would be the same. Therefore, he requested for a trainer who could teach him how to wield these weapons.

She later mentioned how every scientist including her, and even the subjects would have their memories modified by the head scientist, Dr. Kageyoshi, who possessed a memory alteration quirk. This would take place in about a month's time.

She additionally revealed that he would have to sign a contract with the head scientist, since there were high chances that erasing his memory wouldn't be possible because of his quirk. In that contract, Shin would have to agree on never divulging any sort of information about the research, though he could freely use the cover up story. This contract was scheduled to be done on the following day itself. Shin, who heard this, found this contract-related quirk quite intriguing and eagerly awaited meeting the person responsible.

Nearing the end of the discussion, Lara provided him with a small map of the facility, showing him, all the details including his room, a training area, a garden, and a cafeteria where he could interact with other subjects.

Once the discussion had finished, Lara stood up and headed for the door to leave the room. Just before departing, she turned around and said, “Think about a suitable name for yourself and inform it to the person who arrives tomorrow to create the contract. This is because a name is a very essential component of every contract.” With that, she left the room, leaving Shin alone to contemplate his decision.

The following day, the designated person arrived and drafted the contract using their quirk, stipulating all the necessary details pertaining it. It was nearly the same as what Lara had mentioned yesterday, with some negligible additions. After reading it once, Shin inquired them about the cover-up story that would be used in place of the experiment.

The person in question i.e. a middle-aged woman named Sarah, who had bright orange hair, explained, “This organization, aka SUBLIME, works directly under the guidance and support of the Hero Association of Japan. The objective of Sublime is to develop top class heroes, who would one day, protect the country. Every subject, would be portrayed as orphans, who were carefully selected by the organization, because of their potential and are here to undergo comprehensive training, until they become eligible to enroll in hero courses and fast forward to the future; work as licensed heroes.”

Shin, asked if this was what the scientists and other subjects would think of themselves after their memories are erased. And to his question, Sarah replied, “Yes and not just the scientists and the subjects but also every person who is associated with this research. The only person who would keep their memories other than you, would be the head scientist. Even the former Hero Association president who was in full support of this research would have his memories altered. This is to ensure that no one would use this kind of research, in harmful ways.”

To this Shin questioned, “Couldn't the head scientist use his research in a bad way?”

However, Sara shook her head and replied, “No, that is not possible. Because he already has signed multiple restrictive contracts, which would prevent him from potentially doing any such things. Anyway, now that I have answered your question, please tell me the name that you have selected.”

Since he didn't have any further questions to ask, he answered, "My name is Shin Akatsuki."

Sarah nodded and wrote his name onto the contract after which Shin was asked to sign it. Shin once again read through the entire contract to make sure nothing was amiss and then signed it. While signing the contract, Shin ensured that he had activated his quirk. And from what he had seen and felt, Shin was inspired about a new way his quirk could possibly be used. He didn't know if it would really work, but he was sure to try it one day.

After confirming the contract had been successfully established, Sarah proceeded to hand him numerous documents, containing his fabricated background, instructing him to memorize them for his reference. She also promised to provide him his official ID by evening while informing him that the polearm weapons trainer he requested for yesterday, had arrived.

Shin, proceeded to the training room he had explored the day before, where he met his teacher and commenced his training. Life then fell into a monotonous rhythm as he focused on honing his abilities in wielding the spear as well as other polearm type weapons. He also learned how to use some advanced military weapons such as firearms, grenades, rocket launcher, etc.

During his training, Shin used his quirk thoroughly, trying to understand its limits. And he discovered it was a very helpful tool, even during combat. Through it, he was able to understand his opponent's intents and emotions and therefore easily predict what his opponent would do. He attempted to master this method of understanding and predicting his opponent's forms and movements, trying to identify all sorts of weaknesses in them. And one day, something new occurred. Something he didn't really expected to happen in this world at least.

The blue screen of his system popped in front of him during a spar, surprising the heck out of him, causing him to lose the spar entirely. Though it was not because of the distraction, but more because of his surprise that had made him lose his spar.

Therefore, Shin asked for a break as he sat down on the floor contemplating what the exactly was meaning of the sudden notice from the system. He looked at the system screen in front of him with a lot of confusion as he couldn't really understand what was really was going on.

[You have gained a new skill, Intent Counter.]

The reason for his surprise as to why he gained a new skill, as he had thought that no one could really gain a new quirk.

Then it suddenly hit him. He hadn't gained a new quirk, he had simply gained a new skill and these two are two different things and not the same, similar to how martial arts are somehow different from a skill. He tried very hard to understand the distinction between the two, but wasn’t able to have much success.