Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 509: Body and Soul.

"Soul..." Dante muttered, then his brows furrowed. "You telling me Kong-fu BS can give you superpowers?"

"When you put it like that..." Riot grimaced. "But... well, yeah. That’s pretty much it."

As he thought for a moment, Dante lowered himself and sat down on the floor of the arena. He looked at his hand, observing the cracks running through its pale green plating. A few seconds later, he raised his head and fixed the muscular man with a stern glare.

"Teach me."

"Yeah, in your dreams," Riot replied, his head resting against his fist.

The most likely reaction to that rejection should have been to kick his ass, but Dante managed to avoid that somehow.

"Why?" He asked.

"I already told you," Riot yawned. "You screwed up the moment you walked the Cyborg route. You no longer have what it takes to learn it."

"And that is?"

"A normal human body."

"... explain."

Dante felt like he knew where this was going, but he decided to listen to what the former gang boss had to say.

"You’re accepting this far too easily," he said. "Aren’t you going to say something about how souls don’t exist, or that science proves it doesn’t exist?"

"Just get to the point. I will decide whether to believe you or not." Dante said.

Riot held his gaze for some time, then heaved a long sigh.

"Pretty sure you heard of it at some point. It’s practically present in every culture." He said. Humans are made of two things: the body and the soul. Some consider the mind its own thing, but it’s just an aspect of the soul."

"This is starting to sound more and more like mystic BS," Dante said. "If I hadn’t seen Sorcery with my own eyes, I could never take you seriously."

"We have people who can fly and shoot lightning, and you’re struggling with this?" Roit said. "Anyway, the body is basically a container that houses the soul. That much is obvious, right?"

"Yeah?"

"When the container is broken, the soul spills out. That’s how people die."

"Well, that’s obvious, I guess?"

Death has always been described as the soul leaving one’s body, after all.

"Good, you’re following." Riot nodded. "The container analogy is the simplest way to explain this concept, but there is more to it than that."

"... go on."

Pausing once more, Riot seemed to take some time, as if struggling to come up with an explanation for the next part.

"Well, how do I say this... souls aren’t exactly liquid."

Dante raised an eyebrow.

"Isn’t that obvious?"

"It’s a little difficult to describe them as anything but liquid." Riot sighed. "I mean, just like liquids, souls take the shape of their container."

"Oookaay..."

"The difference is that they maintain that shape, even if the contained changes. And if the changes are too much, the two would no longer fit and-"

"They separate?"

"Yup." Riot nodded. "Even if they don’t and one continues to live normally, that mismatch would still persist. And that’s why you can’t learn Soul Manifestation."

"So what you’re saying is..." Dante thought for a moment, then looked up again. "Because I swapped parts of my body with bionics, its shape no longer matches that of my soul?"

"Shape here doesn’t mean your shape in the literal sense," Riot said. "But... yeah. Your body is basically the medium through which your soul is manifested, and if the two don’t match, it won’t be possible."

Dante didn’t have a difficult time grasping the concept, seeing as the explanation was basically the same as what Volcan had told him about Cyborg Dysmorphia Response. Still...

’You said my soul has fully adjusted to the current shape of my body, right?’

[Indeed.] Volcan replied. [Not only is your soul durable, but it is also malleable to such a degree that it is capable of reshaping itself without breaking apart.]

’Huh...’

Dante no longer felt the discomfort from his bionics. Another way of describing it would be that he felt comfortable in his own skin—his new skin. Going by the explanations he heard, that would mean the shapes of his body and soul matched, and with that being the case-

"Okay, I get it now," Dante said with a nod.

"Great. It’s a shame, but-"

"Teach me."

Riot was about to push himself up when Dante cut him off. Sitting still, he stared back at Dante, the corners of his mouth dropping.

"Didn’t I just explain why you can’t?"

"You don’t have to worry about that," Dante said. "Just teach me."

Dante wasn’t entirely sure if he could learn it, even if he met the requirements. Still, this seemed like another route to more power, and so long as he had the chance to take it, Dante wouldn’t hesitate.

"You will just be wasting your time." Riot sighed. "The first step is the simplest. You have to become aware of your body, and the best way to do that is by practicing some martial arts style."

Dante got the idea, and for a moment felt that he had arrived at the first setback. It didn’t take him long to overcome it, however.

"Go on."

Riot must have thought that the first part would be enough to make Dante reconsider, which is why it took him a couple of seconds to move on to the next one.

"The second part is way more difficult," he said. "You have to become aware of your soul. Meditation is the only way to do it, and you can’t really learn that from anyone."

"Oookay..."

Thinking for a moment, Dante then turned his voice inward.

’You can detect souls, right?’

[Yes.] Volcan replied.

’So I can use Absolute Awareness to sense my soul?’

[Yes.]

Dante was about to try it out right away, but decided to leave it for a later time. Right now, the lesson was more important.

"The third step is..." Sensing his urging, Riot continued the explanation. "The third step is integration. Basically, once you are aware of your soul and body, you can integrate them into each other instead of leaving the former contained within the latter. Once you have that mastered, you will gain the ability to manifest your soul into the material world."