My Mother Has a System but Won't Use It

"Big Brother, Big Brother, how do the Power Born fight?" Han Li was tying Ruo's hair in braids, getting her ready for training when she asked.

He paused for a moment. Then asked with a tinge of embarrassment, "How am I supposed to know how the Power Born fight? I am just an Evolution Stage cultivator…"

Looking at the mirror, he felt even more embarrassed when Ruo sighed exaggeratedly.

"You are an ignoramus. Right, Mom?" she teased and then asked Yue Li, who was busy looking at Han Li and herself. Already, Yue Li had started building some wrinkles around the edges of her face while, her hair had started to whiten too.

"Oh, Xiao Li is not an ignoramus, dear." Yue Li chuckled. "He is just young. And aren't you asking a question way above his fighting range? That's your fault, not my son's."

Ruo spat. "There you go again, standing on your son's side like always and singling me out. Tch, tch—What was it called again? Simp?"

Yue Li blushed.

From the side, Han Li looked into the mirror and couldn't help but clench his hands. Eyes as dark as the abyss looked back at him. Immaturity coated his face while confidence alluded his grasp.

Am I enough?

Can I protect those dear to me the way I currently am?

How can I? I am so weak. Ruo, are you telling me to be more mature and learn things a step ahead of me? Or is it just an innocent question?

"I will go check how the Power Born fight. I'll be back quick," saying that, his face blushing slightly, Han Li left the room and closed the door behind him.

Whatever it was, looking into it and answering her question sounded like the right thing to do.

For a second, the room was silent, and then the mother-daughter duo burst into laughter.

***

Han Li floated above a silent ocean, waveless and soundless—alone. His eyes were closed, his mind unconscious. A pearl necklace hung around his neck while his robes had vanished at some point, leaving him naked.

Suddenly, the necklace around his neck lit up, and a person materialized in thin air around him. She first looked around. Ocean blue was the expanse she saw, and so was the sky the same blue.

White clouds, barely one single mass of it, floated above them slowly. While below them, as she looked, the seawater reflected her face. Crystalline green eyes, green hair, a green robe that she had grown used to wearing for the last couple of years which accentuated her beauty.

She then breathed gently and looked back at Han Li. She had seen him the first thing after she appeared in this place from the necklace. He was floating above the ocean, and even though he was unconscious, the ocean here was not normal.

Landing slowly from her levitating form, the woman frowned as her legs touched the water. Something pushed her away from the world underwater. Frowning, she muttered, "Strange."

Her hand went for Han Li, ready to wake him up. He must know in what kind of place they were. Yes, the place looked truly beautiful, but such beauty often hid the danger. He must know.

She just had to wake him up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Hua Yu."

Hua Yu froze.

Where did that come from?

Her slender fingers quivered slightly.

"Don't search for me. You can't see me unless I wish to be seen, yes, not even if I wish—I am currently residing in his necklace."

"N—necklace?"

"Munyu, people call me. Spirit is my other name. But whatever it is, one thing is that you shouldn't wake him up."

Hua Yu used multiple Magical Powers on herself to boost her senses. Having the Moss Dao Soul didn't help her—it was restricting her in many ways, and senses were not its best forte.

She could find no one around even after she spread unseeable, dust-like moss around for a long distance.

"Why shouldn't I wake him up?" Hua Yu warily asked.

"Look, woman. I don't have time to spend talking about bullshit and proving my identity. Go in and bring out that lass Liyue from the necklace world, and she will tell you I am no enemy."

Hua Yu was conflicted for a second before she said with a neutral face, "I can't take her out. To move out even by myself, I had to fly up into the sky of the 'Necklace World' and reach the limit of the skyline, a barrier, sort of, and that was draining—I am sure I can't handle two people at once."

Munyu mumbled. "I see. The Necklace is bonded to Han Li's will; you walked out without his permission, so it is the same as going against his will. We will have to wait until he wakes up for others to be pulled out normally.

"Well, all of them are useless except that mother of his anyway. But I need them all out, though—only then can this benefit us the most."

Feeling less wary but still on alert, Hua Yu asked, "Why is he unconscious?"

Munyu casually said, "He is not unconscious."

"…?"

"He is conscious. Probably more conscious than he had ever been in his entire life. He is currently watching the world with closed eyes, I suppose."

"What jibberish ar—"

"Vital Enlightenment. He once had it when he fought me years ago, but I destroyed his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by interrupting it. Had he had the chance, he would have gotten his own Vital Weapon by now."

"So he is experiencing something fortuitous?"

"He is. He is searching for his own meaning in existence, his own ambition, reason for living, and much more. Only when he is out would you know what his Vital Weapon turned out to be in the end."

"What is a Vital Weapon?" Hua Yu asked in frustration.

The Spirit chuckled inwardly.

It was such a unique fact that, after one reached a certain level in their cultivation, all of the world's people would talk even with others they considered their enemies, thus so peacefully. Hua Yu was seeing her as an enemy, still.

No doubt, one of Han Li's people for sure. Cautious little fucks.

She liked it.

"Vital Weapons are a different way of cultivation itself—it is an unopened door for you. A door that Han Li might open today for himself. He must be swimming through his memory now, the reason for his existence."

***

Han Li took a book from the library of the Wisdom Seeking Villa. He was a disciple of the sect, so he was allowed to borrow books and gain knowledge.

With the Gu that the sect planted on him while he joined, it was impossible for him to betray them and spread the knowledge to outsiders. Whenever he was out in the open courtyards of the Sect, he felt the gnawing sense of slavery.

No matter how powerful he became from this point in his life, he will be the Sect's slave. The Gu grew stronger with himself after all. If he were a Transcendent, the Gu would also be a Transcendent-binding Gu.

If he were a Sacred, he would be bound by that level of Gu. It was similar to his Life Sword, which grew stronger along with himself.

'I have to find a way to get rid of this thing—damn it is making me pissed.'

He had to save his mother, and for that, he needed a lifespan-increasing resource. Which was a Life Dao Resource—too rare for a weakling to receive. And for that, he had joined the Wisdom Seeking Villa, one of the Four Sects.

He was of the lowest echelon of disciples, and getting the resource was a distant goal.

'How do Power Borns fight?' the Book read. Not that interesting or useful but Han Li could not be seen as incompetent. Not by that cheeky girl. He swore he would learn how it worked.

He would make Ruo bend her knees for making him learn too.

Awakening Stage Cultivators don't have many methods of fighting when it comes to it. The only thing they had to rely on that the average mortal didn't have was... Soul Sense.

Using the Soul Sense, they could use weapons and other tools better than a mortal, making them impossible to fight against for their inferiors. But that was it. Against Evolution Stage cultivators, Awakening Stage cultivators were too weak.

Evolution Stage Cultivators had unique Magical Powers, (one that the Awakening Stage Cultivators would have no way of resisting,) if they were the Ethereal Type—the kind of cultivator that had an elemental or magical Spark.

If the Cultivator had a Transformation Type Spark, which made them incapable of using Magical Powers, they had unique Transformations—unique and beastly forms. Deadly at close range.

"True, true." Han Li nodded.

Thinking back on his own life, he had also fought a Transformation Type years ago.

Raven Clan cultivator, Kevin Raven. He used to have a Raven Spark and a Raven Dao Soul. He could transform his body into a powerful Raven Form and throw feathers as sharp as blades around. He was a Transformation type.

Then, there was Ruo. Who had a White Sparrow Spark—she could even take flight when she transformed, which the Raven Clan cultivators couldn't due to the metallic nature of their wings.

Han Li himself was an Ethereal Type. His Spark was Lust, and he had already Evolved, which made his Spark into a Minor Dao Soul of Lust. He excelled in Magical Powers. But with the Demonic Transformations, he was not weak in close combat either.

He continued reading again.

A Power Born is even stronger than an Evolved.

Before them, Evolved men are nothing. A Power Born, for one, can have a much stronger physical body. But that is not what makes them fearful against their inferiors.

A Power Born can have a Soul Sense that is much, much deadlier than an Evolved. Their Soul Sense can physically crush an Evolved with a thought. It is impossible to resist!

Even the strongest Evolution Stage physique will be like crumpling paper.

That Soul Sense is called Psychokinesis.

This alone put the Power Born at a different level.

But there is more to a Power Born fight than just that.

Majorly speaking, the Transformation Type still relies on their body, and the Ethereal Type on their Magic Powers.

But the differences are massive.

Transformation Type cultivators now would have a body that is extremely potent against Ethereal, to the point that a win was most of the time certain as long as the Ethereal enemy let a Transformation enemy closer to them.

But so does Ethereals have their deadly advantage, too.

Han Li's heart tightened as he read on. There it was—no wonder the Power Born were just so disastrously mighty.

Evolution Stage cultivators can use Magic Powers, too. But the way they use it is different from a Power Born.

If they have two Magic Powers, for example, Fire Ball and Fire Explosion, those are two different powers.

If the Evolution Stage tried to combine those powers, they would fail miserably.

"Yep, that's impossible… I've tried it many times. It just doesn't work that way." Even if two powers were used simultaneously, they would just act as separate attacks.

Two different powers fired at the same time.

But a Power Born could use two powers and fuse them into a single type of attack. For example, they can fuse a Fire Ball and Fire Explosion to get a Fireball Explosion. The weirder the abilities and the better they fuse it, the better powers they can get.

This literally sent a chill down Han Li's back.

He had the Seduction Magic Power and also Telepathy. Can he fuse it to literally whisper thoughts into others that could seduce them to do what they wouldn't? Wasn't that nearly mind control?

"Damn, that could be used in disgusting ways if it ended up in the hands of a Demon," Han Li could also see why Evolution Stage cultivators would so utterly fear the Power Born.

They were not using simple Magic Powers any longer but complex Magic Powers. The Power Born also had quick casting speeds, so that was one.

Han Li closed the book and sighed.

"So that's how Power Born fight…" he shook his head. "Using complex Magic Powers that are a mix of many. I wonder if someone can use so many Magic Powers at once…"

What if someone could use three magic powers at once?

What if someone could do that with… 10?

Damn.

What if some ridiculous monster could use all 300 of the Magic Powers at once?

No way.

The highest recorded had apparently been 20 or so, and that Complex Magic Power decimated an entire city with one ability—Killing tens of Power Borns single-handedly. What would happen if someone had the power to mix 300 was a wonder.

But for now, he had what it took to make Ruo bend her knees in defeat. Han Li chuckled as he ran away—back to his place.