An Upgraded Soul

Aditya was caught off guard when he saw the training arena as took back control of his body. He felt like he had entered a periodical drama film set when he saw the ancient designs and architecture.

The whole interior was filled with wooden furniture which supplemented this feeling. Starting from the entrance door, the arches, tables, chairs, cupboards, cabinets, almirahs, hanging lanterns, the weapons case and the weapons themselves made Aditya feel as if he was taking a stroll into a museum.

"Adi try the Sensifull ability." Tya piped in.

"Sensifull?"

"Yup, the ability to register all your sensual perceptions at once, I call it 'Sensifull', the name is so cool right?" Tya's imm.a.t.u.r.e voice full of innocent pride was heard as Aditya rolled his eyes, he had to take over the responsibility of naming the abilities in the future.

"Okay, can you create an icon for it like 'Slow Timing' too?"

"Sure."

Aditya saw a new icon forming beside the Slow Timing icon (looked like a pocket watch). The new icon was a human frame sitting cross-legged on the ground with a straight back as some colourful wind seemed to be absorbed by that person through his eyes, ears, nose, skin and mouth. The wind which was absorbed with each of the sense organs had a special colour distinguishing it from the others.

'At least his visual imagination was cool' Aditya thought as he activated that icon.

Boom!!

Without a warning, Aditya felt that the whole world had changed from a low-quality version to a high-quality version. It was like an avalanche of information engulfing him from all sides. He was dazed at this unique awareness.

In one moment, Aditya was able to see all the weapons on the weapons rack like many staffs of different lengths and wood materials like teak, rosewood, bamboo, maple wood. He saw many unique types of swords, axes, wh.i.p.s, clubs, cudgels. He saw spears, sickles, daggers, spiked knuckle dusters. He even saw a special kind of weapon made of blackbuck horns.

He was able to record all the details and designs of these weapons in that one instant. Apart from this, he was able to take in the designs of the furniture, wall colour and patterns, the paintings. His vision also included the people in front of him, their expressions, body movements, attires, colours of their attire, hairstyles, hair dyes, acne, scars, even their gait.

Putting aside the vision, he could hear, differentiate and catalogue all the sounds being heard. Breathing sounds of different people, whispers, buzzing sounds of air ventilation, birds and insects sounds from outside.

He could feel the cool air of the air conditioner c.a.r.e.s.sing his face, the warm air been expired from his nostrils, his clothes touching his skin and the shoes wrapped around his feet.

He could taste saliva in his mouth along with some other taste which he could experience but not name.

He smelt the cool air conditioner air, the fragrance of wood and some flowers which he could distinguish clearly from one another, the place also had a lingering odour of human sweat but it felt weirdly attractive to him and lollipops, yes lollipops he got a whiff of a candy smell.

Aditya was overwhelmed by this ability completely. If the amount of information he processed before was equivalent to 1 MB, now it was 1GB. All kinds of sensations which he would otherwise neglect had come into his attention range now. Keeping aside the usefulness or practical utility of this power, the sheer experience enriched Aditya's experience of life itself.

Aditya followed the whiff of lollipops scent as he reached Taarini who was watching him intently. One had to take note of the fact that the time had not passed a few seconds since Aditya entered this arena. The talk with Tya, the activating of this ability and his observations did not take any time at all. So, from Taarini's viewpoint, Aditya was just looking around for a few seconds before he came in front of her. Seeing him look at her with a weird gaze and his act of hesitating to speak, Taarini got curious and asked, "What is it?"

"Can I get a lollipop?" Aditya asked with an awkward smile while rubbing his head. He also discovered that the human sweat scent which he found oddly attractive was also from Taarini herself.

"Lollipop?" Taarini was stunned when she heard Aditya's request. Her expression became cloudy as she asked in a chilly tone, "What did you say?"

Aditya who had activated the 'Sensifull' ability already saw Taarini's eyes narrowing, her hands making a fist, her teeth clenching, her skin vibrating a little and also her pulse rising by looking at the throbbing vein on her thin, delicate neck. By this, he could already confirm that he was misunderstood.

Before Taarini could burst out and Aditya could be surrounded by a gang of big brothers, Aditya immediately acted like he didn't notice these reactions of Taarini as he smilingly nodded and said, "Yes, I like candies and lollipops, when I heard elder brother Raghav saying that you liked to play with kids, I assumed that you would have these candies. It is okay if you don't have any."

'nicely executed' Aditya let out a sigh of relief.

Taarini who was almost about to pull out her staff, calmed down when she heard Aditya's latter words. She nodded as she got someone to get lollipops for Aditya. She had some in her pocket but she didn't want to give them to this kid. This kid did not seem so innocent in her eyes anymore for some reason.

Aditya thanked the person who looked to be in his early twenties as he took a couple of lollipops from him. That person had an exciting smile on his face as he watched Aditya unwrapped a lollipop as he said, "Elder brother Aditya, you are so cool when you shoot. Whenever you hit the target, it just feels so natural and effortless."

'it is effortless' Aditya thought as he smiled while keeping the candy on the side of his mouth as the sweet cherry taste kicked in slowly.

"You look elder than me, I should be the one calling you elder brother," Aditya replied smilingly.

"No, in the underworld, only the strong deserve to be respected. You should just call me by my name Faizal whereas I should call you Elder brother. You look at Taarini Big Sis, she is younger than Raghav, Dev, Munna elder brothers but still they call her Big Sis when conversing with her." the youth called Faizal chatted enthusiastically with Aditya.

Aditya nodded deeply as he let this custom sink in. It seemed reasonable to him.

"Aditya, how is your combat skills? Go, fight a round with Faizal." Taarini said with a smile which held some hidden meanings.

Aditya had been prepared for this when he came here but when the occasion came, he really felt uncomfortable. Frankly, Aditya had the same combat ability that a bully of a school possesses, nothing more. Even when he rescued Taarini, he took a safe long-range approach while deciding to escape as long as the enemy drew near which luckily never happened.

Faizal was like a typical youth who was hot-blooded in his prime. On the other hand, even though Aditya was younger in physical age, the unique experiences he had gone through along with his dreams had m.a.t.u.r.ed his psyche forcefully. Aditya knew that he should not look back after he came this far so he also nodded and stepped on the fighting stage after removing his shoes.

He deactivated the 'Sensifull' ability. He wanted to see if he had any fighting talent without using these abilities. Of course, his superior calculative ability was functioning as this was not some ability which was formed in collaboration with Tya. This power was due to a permanent modification of his brain due to absorbing Tya's energy even before he knew the existence of Tya.

As it was morning, almost all the followers were in their training clothes so Faizal also jumped onto the training ring excitedly. He seemed to have developed an admiration for Aditya like how a fan admires a star.

"Elder brother, I will make the first move," Faizal spoke as he flexed his limbs restlessly. Aditya did not try correcting Faizal from calling him as an 'Elder brother' as he knew that he also had to follow these customs. Aditya nodded as he kept his hand up to guard his face like how he had seen in some movie. Taarini and others smiled as they saw this, with this one move they knew that Aditya did not have any combat experience.

When Aditya thought that Faizal might take it easy and start slow, the smile on Faizal's face vanished to be replaced by a grim expression as he suddenly burst into an explosive sprint spontaneously as he aimed his clenched fist at Aditya's stomach.

If it was not for Aditya's superior reflexes, he would have been hit and wounded critically. It took some time for Aditya to accept the fact that though these people looked friendly and harmless usually, it did not change the fact that they were hooligans whose occupation was to fight. Even a young person like Faizal turned into a wild animal when the fight started. Especially the way Faizal just left his whole body unguarded and went full on offensive reminded Aditya that this was not some martial arts competition but a fight to wound the opponent at the cost of injuring themselves.

Aditya discovered that he could calculate the enemy's body movements by looking at his torso. The good news was that he knew where the enemy's punch would land, the bad news was that he did not know how to react to that hit in the most efficient way.

Faizal was sure that his first hit would land when he saw that Aditya did not have any fighting experience. But surprisingly, Aditya took a side step and dodge the punch at the last moment. Faizal suddenly changed his path reflexively as he turned his foot a little and rammed his shoulder into Aditya while maintaining the momentum of his explosive run.

Aditya did not expect that a person could change their movement in the last moment, though he could calculate the impact, he did not have the time to react so he braced himself by anchoring his feet and blocking Faizal's shoulder with both his hands.

The impact almost pushed all the air in Aditya's lungs outside as he was slammed into the ground along with Faizal. Before he could regain his composure, Faizal aimed a fist at his face, Aditya caught his fist accurately and stopped him. He then caught another fist with his free hand tightly. Aditya was shocked that his thin physique was actually able to move freely with a strength almost equal to Faizal who had a bulky physique.

Taarini and others were also impressed with Aditya's presence of mind and the strength he displayed. He was already performing better than their best expectations. Aditya did not still realize his true value as a sharpshooter but Taarini did. So she wanted Aditya to possess better survival skills so that he could persist in their world which was why she asked Faizal to display his full prowess so Aditya gets a real taste.

Just when Aditya thought that Faizal did not have any way to attack, he saw a slight smile on Faizal as he saw him clenching his teeth and stiffening his neck muscles. Then he viewed with shock as Faizal butted his forehead against his nose, Aditya immediately took the initiative and also clashed his forehead head-on with Faizal's.

Aditya's mind buzzed when he got hit while stars popped up in front of his eyes. Before Aditya could say anything, he heard Taarini's calm voice as she shouted to cease fighting.

Faizal was grinning widely as he looked at the depressed expression on Aditya who was stumbling as he stood while rubbing his head. He smiled bitterly as he saw that though both were supposed to be equally wounded, Faizal was fine whereas his forehead started swelling already.

"Don't be surprised, if you also had your head-butted multiple times until it bled, your forehead would also become as strong as his," Taarini stated serenely as she handed an ice pack to Aditya.

"I know that you have some unique capabilities that gifts you the capability to go farther than all of us in this world but, "Taarini's voice turned icy as she warned, "don't dare to think that other people would just move aside because you are better than them in some ways."

Aditya nodded as he listened to everything with reverence. He reminded himself again that these were not fights that were controlled by rules and regulations and stop when the referee whistles. The opponent would use all the weapons at his disposal including his own forehead. He could also imagine Faizal using his teeth if the forehead did not work.

He also developed a good impression on Taarini as she was open about her expectations of using his capabilities but also genuinely warned him of the consequences of underestimating this path.

Aditya showed a genuine smile to Taarini as he said, "Thank you."

Taarini was satisfied with Aditya as she nodded and said, "But I can also say that as long as the enemy is not near your body, you can rule the field, so you might want to play your advantages against enemy's disadvantages."

Aditya nodded but he stood up while placing the ice pack on the table, "Can I have another go?" Aditya knew he was invincible when he was at a distance, but he did not want to limit himself to a person who only depended on his special capabilities. He wanted to take the normal path of people like Faizal also, he wanted to train his body. He never viewed himself as a delicate person who cannot handle tough jobs. If these people can do it, he could do it too.

Taarini looked back at Aditya with appreciation in her eyes for the first time as she nodded.