Chapter 2

The walk back was a slow and agonizing experience. Junpei was glad that it was near midnight and the streets were empty.

If someone had seen him looking like this, then this would have been a troublesome situation with police involved.

And above all, it would have worried his mother.

Junpei could tell that she was worried about him being a loner. He also knew that she was suspecting that he is being bullied.

Releasing a sigh, Junpei threw his clothes in a plastic bag. They were in no condition to be ever worn again. They were also important evidence that could potentially be used to report his bullies.

Storing the bag in a safe location where his mother wouldn't find it, Junpei grabbed a change of clothes and went to shower.

Turning the knob to cold water, Junpei gently washed the dried blood, grime and dirt off his body.

As he did so he finally reflected upon the soul merger. He had the complete set of memories from both souls.

He could recall the journey through the void. His life before that.

As well as his life as Junpei's.

This begged the question. Who was he right now?

There had to be a dominant personality right now, no?

It didn't help that despite living two different lives in different universes, they both had very similar personalities.

"Forget it! They are both me. I am a new self made from parts of both my previous selves"

Not wanting to torture himself with philosophical questions, Junpei decided to think of himself as a new entity from parts of the previous two.

Satisfied with this conclusion, Junpei started thinking about the more interesting implications of the merger.

"Souls merging .….. This is something out of a cultivation novel or a fanfic. Both of these worlds always have superpowers involving some kind of energy. Nen. Ki. Mana. Chakra. Heavenly Energy.

There definitely should be some kind of power like that in this world as well.

After all, souls do exist. It feels awkward but I can clearly sense the soul in my body.

Not to mention those creepy creatures I sometimes see. No one else seems to be able to see them.

I never thought much about them and thought they were perhaps a part of my imagination but now I am sure that they are real.

Are they like hollows from bleach? But they never openly attack anyone let alone eat souls.

Are they like demons or evil spirits then? From those exorcist animes like Tokyo Raven or Blue Exorcist?

Hmmm ….

In blue exorcist, a person needed to receive a spirit wound to see demons.

I don't recall getting injured before being able to seeing them.

Then this should be like Tokyo Raven or Bleach. You need a certain level of talent to be able to seem them.

I could see them even before the soul merger. That should mean that I have the talent required to be an exorcist or whatever the profession is.

They way to unlocking this talent is almost always through meditation. The main character tries to feel for a warm energy in his gut and tries to draw it out.

I should try meditating later. Maybe I can sense some kind of energy in the environment or in my body.

If I can't, I'll try to find one of those legendary magical academies that are so popular in anime."

Being fans of anime and fantasy novels, Junpei used to daydream about using powers like Nen to protect his mother and fight the forces of evil.

This all was so exciting for Junpei that he felt weak in the knees.

Although that might be due to his injuries.

Junpei let out a soft chuckle at that thought

"I should ice my bruises".

Done with cleaning himself, Junpei left the shower to treat his wounds.

From the walk home he had realised that none of the injuries were deep but they were likely to cause severe swelling and bruising for the next few days.

Taking a cold water bath helped but he needed to ice the big bruises lest they swell too much.

As he was grabbing an ice tray, Junpei thought about taking an ice bath like athletes.

He had bruises all over his body. Taking an ice bath would be far more effective than icing individual bruises. After the bath he can use an ice pack for only the worst bruises.

Hence he grabbed all the ice in the freezer and filled up the bathtub with ice cold water.

Grabbing a timer and setting it to 15 minutes, Junpei sat in the chilling cold water.

As he sat there, he closed his eyes and tried to feel his soul.

Thanks to eons of existing as nothing but a soul, Junpei felt a very vivid connection to it. Being in a physical body now and having undergone the soul merger and formed a new soul, it felt a little awkward. Like a newly awakened muscle.

Most people live their entire lives without ever discovering their souls. This was the case even for the sorcerers of this world.

Only top level entities like Satoru Gojo or Ryomen Sukuna can interact with their souls. It was this very talent to consciously interact with their souls that allowed them to stand at the peak.

Most people did interact with their souls to do tasks. The ego uses the soul to control the brain into sending electrical signals that control the body.

The interaction between the ego and the soul is unconscious for most people. It is like walking with your eyes closed in a dark room.

You would walk slowly and eventually after a lot of bumping into things, you would learn the general layout of the room.

Those with a lot of talent would perfectly memorize the layout and after enough practise would be able to run across the room but those with less talent would always struggle.

Being able to consciously command your soul is like walking in that room with the light on and eyes open. You don't have to go through the process of mapping the room by bumping into things. One look and you understand the layout.

People who consciously control their souls could do everything better and faster than those who cant. These people's overall talent was greater by several orders of magnitude.

Unfortunately sensing the soul and controlling it is impossible for most people. For starters, only under very special circumstances is one even able to sense it, let alone control it.

Satoru Gojo is only able to use the Six Eyes as a proxy to control the soul. Even Sukuna, the strongest sorcerer during the golden age of jujutsu, had to first die and come back as curse spirit before he was able to sense his soul.

One of the greatest silver lining from Junpei's unfortunate journey through the void is his ability to control the soul.

For eons he existed as nothing but an ego inside a soul. He had far more experience living as a soul than a flesh and blood body.

Unfortunately due to the soul merge, his old soul had been destroyed and formed anew. The new soul's structure was quite different but even then, all those experiences of controlling the soul as second nature were still there.

It was like: if someone 5'6 had grown to 6'9 overnight. At first they would indeed struggle to move properly and have trouble controlling their body but it is not as though they forgot how to walk or move their body.

They would just need some time to adjust to the new body.

Junpei felt an awkward connection with the soul because this new one was a lot different from his old soul. However, given time he would be able to control this new soul just as well.

Right now, after closing his eyes, Junpei tried to feel for that connection and tried to see his body using it.

Once. Twice. Thrice.

He tried and failed many times but after each time, he felt an improvement.

After an unknown number of attempts, suddenly Junpei felt his vision shift.

"Is this the legendary [Internal Body Vision] from cultivation novels?!" Junpei let out a loud gasp.

His vision had shifted from the darkness of his closed eyelids to his body.

He could suddenly see everything. From his outer appearance to his what lied below the skin. It was quite disorienting.

After taking a moment to get used to the feeling, Junpei started looking around with a relish.

It was fascinating to look at. The beating heart. The lungs pumping. The brain. Liver.

The revulsion that Junpei expected never came.

If anything there was something oddly satisfying to look at.

Junpei focused on his injuries. Now that he could see his internal organs he wanted to make sure that there was no internal damage.

Indeed all wounds were at most skin or muscle deep. Even the one to his face. None of the bones were damaged and everything would heal with time leaving no scars. Except for the burns marks on the right of his forehead.

"I guess even those overgrown apes know what is and isn't appropriate." coldy mutter Junpei as an icy light flashed in his eyes.

Calming himself of the rage he felt, Junpei moved to the task that he had originally set out to do.

Junpei carefully started to inspect his body via the Internal Body Vision.

The next few minutes were spent him trying his best to find any trace of a flowing energy.

Alas he was unable.

Try as he might, he was simply unable to find a trace of anything.

Junpei wasn't disappointed in the least. He knew that his failure was not because the energy didn't exist. It was because this was his first time seeing his body using the Internal Body Vision technique.

He was unfamiliarity with the technique made it very hard to look for something.

The only reason that he was able to find the heart, lungs, brain was because they were very large prominent organs. Even he, without having studied any biology, knew their locations.

Even his wounds. He was only able to find them as he had the pain he felt from them as a guide.

'Feeling as a guide'. Junpei got a sudden flash of inspiration.

Taking slow deep breaths, he tried to use the soul to feel for any energy flowing in his body.

Concentrating he imagined finding something circulating in his body.

At first all he found was blood.

Warm. Soft and Full of life.

Starting from the heart, it slowly travelled the whole body delivering oxygen and glucose.

It was splendid.

Encouraged by the warmth, Junpei now tried to visualize searching for something powerful flowing in his body.

Concentrating he felt for an energy flowing through every nook and cranny of his body. Slowly empowering everything as it went along.

Every muscles. Every organ. Every cell is reinforced with power as it passes.

Starting from the navel, travelling across the whole body and exploding outwards.

Boom

Junpei felt a warmth explode from his navel. Quickly the feeling covered his whole body.

It was exhilarating. All his worries disappeared and so did the pain. It was like he was soaking in a gentle hot spring instead of an icy cold bath.

His body had never left more relaxed before.

But he also felt strong. He had never felt so powerful before. It felt like the world had slowed down and all his senses had been sharpened to the extreme.

Junpei had a feeling that he could destroy the world with a single punch.

Shaking off that ridiculous thought, Junpei slowly stood up from the bath and walked in front of the mirror to look at his reflection.

He looked the same except his whole body was encased in a blue aura. It looked similar to the super saiyan blue form without hair and eye color changes.

It was a surreal moment.

Junpei stood there in front of the mirror in a daze until he was awoken by the timer.

Snapping out, he noticed that his aura had reduced.

'My aura must be leaking'. Junpei thought in a panic.

Anime like HxH had emphasizes that leaking aura will deplete the user's lifeforce, killing them.

Junpei closed his eyes and visualized doing the opposite of what he did previously.

Now he tried to withdraw his aura to just under his skin. Making sure not a drop leaked outside. Circulating in his body like blood. Energizing everything.

Slowly the unrestrained aura cloak withdrew.

The high gone with it.

Junpei opened his eyes and eyed his appearance.

Now his aura was completely gone.

He no longer felt invincible but he still didn't feel as weak as before.

Clenching his fist and punching like a wuxia protagonist, Junpei realized that he was quite strong. Moreover, none of his injuries hurt anymore. The energy from earlier had either healed them or increased his regenerative ability.

With a happy smile, Junpei cleaned up after himself in the bathroom and left to get something light to eat.

Today had been a long day and it was best that he rest himself before trying more experiments.