This time, walking through Jujutsu High, Minamoto Sōjun felt a sense of reality. It was no longer a scene or fragment from his memories, nor a few stories pieced together.
This was a real, undeniable world.
It gave him a sense of temporal disorientation as if the realms of duality and trinity mixed, time and space intertwined.
Especially since many things seemed ambiguous, it left him with a sense of confusion.
In truth, it didn't matter where he was, or in how many dimensions—he had no sense of belonging to this world, nor did he to the one before.
The world was too vast.
Now that he thought about it, maybe it was also too numerous.
Thinking about it only created more trouble.
He cast aside the distractions.
His soul felt light, as if the dust had been swept away.
He had finally merged completely!
---
Back in his room, Minamoto Sōjun opened his computer.
Almost at the same time, his phone received a link from Mishima Shiko.
He clicked the link, logged in, and entered his initial account and password. He followed the familiar steps until he reached the main page.
It was a forum-like site with various sections.
There was a task board for missions, a trade section, an information board, and even a friend and team system.
Many sorcerers interacted on the platform, posting topics and engaging in discussions, which would often go off-topic.
Minamoto Sōjun glanced over the content.
For example, a post recruiting teammates for a team mission.
"Level 1 curse spirit swarm clearing mission, 1 missing, recruiting a pretty, kind, and strong sister, handsome guys are fine, ugly ones please don't bother!"
The replies quickly filled the page:
"What's your strength to discriminate against ugly people!"
"Ugly person upstairs!"
"Isn't it supposed to be 1 missing 2? Why only recruiting one?"
"Here's an honest person."
"Meaning, one level 1 and one level 2."
"Quick, what's your strength? Dare to discriminate against ugly people!"
"..."
Then came dozens of copy-pasted replies, all saying, "Big shot, please take me with you."
Various chaotic replies filled the page like a frenzy.
Minamoto Sōjun stared at the thread that had gone off-topic from the start. The long-forgotten memories suddenly attacked.
It was back, that familiar feeling returned.
The current state of netizens!
He watched posts trading cursed objects, challenge invitations, some with shady deals, and even some matchmaking posts.
He sat silently in his ergonomic chair, the computer screen casting shifting lights on his face. Was this what the modern sorcerers were like?
Of course, there were also some more serious posts, such as information on specific curse spirits or shikigami trades, buy and sell posts that looked normal.
Among them, curse spirits with spatial attributes often fetched high prices, sparking fierce competition.
Who didn't want storage space? Minamoto Sōjun had been looking for one himself.
The high school didn't prohibit or support these activities as long as they didn't break school rules. Bounty sorcerers enjoyed a lot of freedom.
Minamoto Sōjun couldn't help but remember Mishima Shiko's advice to choose a codename when registering, something that could separate him from his real name.
At the time, he had been confused, but now it seemed obvious… who would use their real name as their online username? It would be a disaster.
He followed the registration steps and filled in the information.
Finally, it was time to choose his username. He had considered using something normal like "Handsome Prince," or something confident like "I Am Number One," or something more unusual like "War God" or "Powerful Man."
But when he realized the platform required real-name registration, he quickly abandoned those ideas, unless he didn't link a bank card and didn't accept tasks online.
That would be counterproductive.
After several tries due to duplicate names, he finally registered.
Codename: Zongzhu, lv1.
Looking at his newly created account, Minamoto Sōjun couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment.
This level would increase based on the number of tasks completed, transaction amounts, and activity level, following a fixed algorithm.
With that done, he sent a friend request to Mishima Shiko.
When she sent the link, she also included her codename—Little Delinquent.
He chuckled.
---
Mishima Shiko was feeling a little awkward.
After graduating from Jujutsu High, she became an assistant supervisor. At the time, she had chosen a rather immature codename. Later, she wanted to change it, but it was already bound to her real identity.
Unless she paid.
After a brief moment of hesitation, she chose the latter—if she wasn't embarrassed, then it was others who should be.
In fact, very few people knew both her real name and codename. Over the years, her skin had thickened.
Mishima Shiko was quite satisfied with her current sorcerer partner; at least the first impression was good. After a brief interaction, he seemed pleasant to be around. His attitude was very friendly, without any airs of superiority, and his personality appeared normal—gentle and polite.
In short, he was a pleasant man, though his eyes were a bit strange. While subtle, she had keenly noticed that he had heterochromia...
This was actually Minamoto Sōjun's second modification.
After successfully completing the eagle-eye enhancement, the status was stable, and the subsequent optimizations were a matter of fine-tuning.
He quickly set up a second experimental project, the bionic model based on the fly's compound eyes.
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