Volume 2 Episode 34

[ Lin's Basement. ]

[ 3 weeks before the school tournament. ]

Lin was sitting on his chair, tired from the non-stop experimenting he did throughout the week. He then stared at his test subject, who was now kneeling in front of him, like a knight.

The test subject was a lady who was once part of the guild, but had lost one of her legs in a battle and wasn't in a position to get healed, forcing her to retire early. She had been struggling to make ends meet since then. Attaching another limb usually costs a lot of money, so she had abandoned the idea, instead trying to work multiple jobs to pay for her living expenses.

It was then that a man visited her house, telling her that his employer would pay a hefty sum and also provide her a leg should she agree to participate in his experiments. The whole thing sounded extremely shady,but the lady was in dire need of money, and the man did assure her that it wouldn't endanger her life, so she took the offer.

She was blindfolded, and taken to Lin's location, on whom he tried out his latest experimental procedure; memory altering.

He had already discovered how to alter a person's memory, but he had yet to figure out how to effectively use it against the Lindon family. The Lindons specialised in communication and information transfer, and they would most probably figure out if he was going around altering the memory of their people. So he had to find another way to infiltrate the Lindon family.

He started tweaking the test subject's memory and found out that the lady considered her old commander to be a person who she looked up to, so he altered her memories with the commander a bit, adding himself into the memory for a second, with the commander telling her to work for Lin when she retires as he had recommended her to the Hamill family. He then brought a freshly amputated leg brought in by Charles and attached it to the lady's body using potions.

The lady was then woken up after a while, and after searching through her memories, resulted in her kneeling in front of him. Lin, who was exhausted after the procedure, sat on the chair for a bit. He had been very tired the past few days, with the tournament, training, experiments and the Lindon family problem taking a huge toll on him.

He had to eliminate his worries one by one, and he wished to use the memory altering method for that. 

"Miss, please don't kneel. You just got your leg. What you need is rest." 

Lin spoke to the kneeling lady in front of him. He simply didn't have the energy to be more strict.

"No master. I am extremely sorry for not coming to meet you after I was discharged. I had been recommended by my commander to serve the Hamill family, but I was too ashamed of facing you when I lost my leg that I never contacted you and for that I wish to apologize. Even though I wouldn't have been able to fulfill my duty as you wished, I should've at least notified you, which I didn't. I have failed my late commander, and I am deeply ashamed of my actions. I hope you shall forgive me."

The lady didn't move even a little, kneeling in front of him without any motion. Lin sighed and opened his mouth to speak.

"Alright, I shall forgive you if you accept to work for me. Is the offer to your liking, Ms…..?"

"Anna Ford, and yes, it's an honor to be working with you, Mr. Hamill."

The woman finally stopped kneeling and got up from the floor, approaching him to offer a handshake, and Lin got to view her face a bit more clearly. He hadn't noticed while he was experimenting, but she looked young for someone in her forties. Even with her dire situation, her beauty hadn't faded and was still visible.

"Well then Miss Anna, aren't you curious about what my experiment was?" Lin asked Anna after greeting her.

"Am I allowed to?" Anna didn't wish to ask unwanted questions that could get her in trouble, especially after she had just landed a job.

"Cautious. I like it. But don't worry, this is something you'll need to know."

Lin smiled and walked to one of the test subjects held captive, with Anna following close behind. 

"You see, what I want to do, is pass on my knowledge to people. To teach people new information, to help them evolve. But it seems that powerful people are after my knowledge. They seem to have me in their grasp, and I cannot pass on my knowledge easily without them figuring it out. Which is why I have resorted to another measure. You see, I figured out a method to pass on my teachings to others by directly implanting them within the brain."

Lin then turned around suddenly and looked at Anna.

"Anna, do you know how to do my memory altering method?"

Anna, who was confused at Lin's question, answered immediately.

"Of course not Master Lin, I haven't even seen it. How would I be able to…. "

Her words trailed off at the end, leaving her scratching her head, thinking about what was going on. In her mind, she could remember the procedures and instructions to an experiment she never even witnessed. It was something that was impossible, and yet she was sure that if she were given the instruments and a test subject, she could most likely do the experiment right then and there.

"Amazing, isn't it? I used this technique so that I can easily implant my teachings without the enemy ever knowing." 

Lin grinned at the still puzzled Anna and moved over to the chair, sitting down once again.

"Anna, what I need you to do is very simple. You used to work with special forces on specific missions, right?"

"Yes I did sir. Why do you ask?" Anna, who now looked like she had gotten over her shock asked.

"You know a person named Jason? If I remember correctly, he was in one of your teams as a mercenary trainee for the Lindons." Lin closed his eyes for a bit, and dropped another question.

"Yes I did. I knew him. Wait, is he working for the enemy?" Anna, who grabbed on to his hints, looked at Lin for an answer. Lin was still lying in the chair with his eyes closed. But one could see a slight smirk emerge from his lips.

"Yes indeed. He has been corrupted by our enemies, and they have tainted his mind. So I want you to meet him. Nothing serious. Just two fellow mercenaries meeting each other to discuss and reminiscing about the past. But what you have to do is drug him and make him unconscious, do the exact experiment on him and tweak his mind into thinking that he's a spy for me, and implant my surgical teachings to him as well, just like I did to you. Remember, all this has to be done secretly and quickly. He is a valuable asset to the enemy and they're likely to get suspicious if it takes more time."

Lin then opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. He was still feeling sleepy. Everything was becoming too much of a hassle for him. He had to get some rest.

"Remember to instruct him to do the exact same thing to his colleagues when you're done. Tell him to first implement the process to the Lindon special forces if he can. This plan is to be done as discreetly as possible, as our enemy is a top information smuggler. It is extremely important to keep it under wraps for as long as possible, at least until the majority of the Lindon family has turned to our side. This shall be your job, Ms. Anna. Do you wish to take on this mission?"

Lin looked at Anna, who nodded her head furiously as confirmation. He grinned at her action, and instructed her to leave the compound. Lin watched through his windows as the vehicle disappeared from his view. The Lindon family most probably knew about this meet-up, but it didn't matter. As far as they know, I just assigned a test subject as a new employee. And after Jason is turned, the suspicions would likely be resolved by his interference in the matter.

Lin went to his room and lied down on his bed to get some shut eye. He closed his eyes as he thought about the risks he was taking with this plan. If the Lindon family figures out my plan, then his secret will most likely be leaked to the world, and it would be disastrous. He had to maintain absolute secrecy throughout it. 

There was absolutely no way that the altered person will question whether or not they were altered. Lin had already anticipated that, and tweaked the memory a bit more to ensure that the trust between the master and the subject evolved beyond that. That was the reason why Anna didn't question if she was also altered while he was telling her to tweak Jason's memories. In her mind, her trust with him was beyond questioning her loyalty to him. Lin had completely eliminated that risk.

As he was falling asleep slowly, he suddenly started remembering the lies he fed to Anna a while ago. He asked himself when he had learned to lie so easily. He made up that story with such ease that even he almost believed it. When did it become so easy for him to manipulate others? He wanted to remember, but then he realised that there was never a specific point in his life. It was a sequence of events, not a single point in life, which resulted in his worldview. 

'Maybe if I was born in a different situation, would I be different?'

He thought about it for a while, and came to a conclusion.

Maybe the way his life played out might indeed have affected him. But at the end of the day, he still chose this way of life. Before all of this, before he was transferred to this world, he was in fact living a normal life, away from his family. It wasn't what he had wished for, but it was in no way a bad life. Just a normal one. The fact that he thought that it was pathetic, and the fact that he chose to believe so, made his life feel miserable. He couldn't enjoy it, so he didn't.

In the end it all came down to choices. He could've chosen many ways to live his life, but he chose this one. 

What mattered in the end was if he regretted his choices.

Did Lin Hamill regret?

He looked up and whispered to himself.

"Never, even if it kills me."