The Crippled Destiny System

An hour later.

Mo Li said, "Sakura, act like everything is normal. Don't say anything unnecessary. Pretend Matou Zouken is still alive. Once we leave the Matou Family, we'll find somewhere else to live."

"Mm!" Matou Sakura nodded her little head. Though she did not know what Mo Li intended to do, she knew he would not hurt her.

Then, Matou Sakura watched in stunned disbelief as Mo Li turned around and transformed into Matou Zouken, looking exactly like him.

"Sakura, let's go. We're heading back upstairs." Mo Li flawlessly played the role, imitating Matou Zouken's mannerisms.

"You..."

Mo Li smiled. "Don't worry, it's me, Mo Li. I'm only pretending to be Matou Zouken for now. Call me Grandpa first, and don't give anything away."

"Mm, okay, big brother... uh, Grandpa."

"Good. What a good child. Let's go."

Mo Li turned and left, with Sakura closely following at his side.

When they reached the changing room where Matou Zouken kept Sakura's pajamas, Mo Li picked up a set and said, "Sakura, go inside and change."

"Mm!" Sakura took the clothes and entered the changing room. Before long, she came back out and returned Mo Li's shirt to him.

Mo Li put the shirt back on, and it transformed into clothing identical to Matou Zouken's.

After leaving the basement, the two ran into Matou Shinji. Matou Sakura fearfully hid behind Mo Li.

Shinji unwillingly said to Mo Li, who looked like Matou Zouken, "Grandpa! Why did you choose her to inherit the Matou Family's magecraft?"

Mo Li said darkly, "Because your talent is insufficient, Shinji. Kariya's aptitude was passable to begin with. Even if he could not carry forward the Matou Family's Water Magic, he could at least have ensured its continuation. But he ran from that responsibility, so this old man had no choice but to choose Matou Sakura."

Matou Shinji said resentfully, "Is that all it is?! There should be other ways, shouldn't there?!"

Mo Li's gaze deepened. "There are, but using them on someone like you would be a waste. Your lack of talent is something this old man has rarely seen in his life. You do not possess the aptitude to inherit magecraft. Shinji, just be the wealthy young master of the Matou Family. You need not concern yourself with anything else. This old man guarantees that you will have a peaceful and prosperous life."

Hearing this, Matou Shinji lowered his head and clenched his fists.

Mo Li led Matou Sakura past Shinji.

"Damn it!" Matou Shinji muttered unwillingly.

Mo Li's voice came from behind him. "Shinji, don't set your sights on Sakura. Otherwise, even if you are a child of the Matou Family, this old man will not spare you."

"...Yes, Grandpa." Dejected, Matou Shinji returned to his room. No matter how unwilling he was, he did not dare defy Matou Zouken's will.

Mo Li brought Matou Sakura back to Matou Zouken's room, transferred the magical energy that had originally belonged to Matou Zouken into her, and helped her absorb that power.

It was a pity that the old worm was no longer human. Otherwise, his Magic Crests and Magic Circuits could have been taken as well.

"Ugh..." After digesting that enormous amount of magical energy, even Matou Sakura—with her aptitude for Imaginary Number Magecraft and her natural talent as a mage—felt as though she had overeaten.

Mo Li flipped through the tomes collected by Matou Zouken. Though he had already read through all of them in the old worm's memories, he still checked them again to make sure nothing had been missed.

After reading through everything, Mo Li came to a decision.

"Sakura, read these. I'll go gather all the Holy Relics stored by the Matou Family. If there's anything you don't understand, wait until I return and I'll explain it to you." Mo Li placed the Matou Family's Water Magic texts in front of Sakura.

Matou Sakura said enthusiastically, "Okay!"

Mo Li left the room briefly and soon returned. At midnight, Matou Sakura carried several books back to her own room, and Mo Li thoughtfully placed a barrier around it.

Matou Sakura's aptitude truly was impressive. She was gifted in both magecraft and academics. Whenever Mo Li explained the Matou Family's magecraft to her, she understood immediately. It could be said that she would master all of the Matou Family's Water Magic in less than a month.

"Damn it..." Matou Shinji, who had been secretly watching all this, cursed resentfully. If Matou Zouken continued guarding Sakura like this, then no matter how many thoughts he had about taking revenge on Sakura for stealing everything that should have been his, he would never be able to act on them.

The original Matou Zouken naturally would not have cared about such matters, but Mo Li was obviously different.

Back in Matou Zouken's room, Mo Li summoned the system while considering his future arrangements.

Host: Mo Li

Attribute System: Damaged state, unable to display.

Draws Remaining: 2

Fate Points: 15,000

Destiny Shop: Damaged state, unable to purchase.

Mo Li stared silently at the rows of panels. Was this system really useful?

In his original world, Mo Li's only Cheat System had been the ability to take anything for himself. The greatest thing he had ever taken was the divine position of a Land God. Through his own hard work, wisdom, and luck, he had finally gained a foothold in that chaotic age.

After Qin Shi Huang unified the realm, the various dangers greatly diminished. At least no one suddenly lost their mind and came running up to hack apart a Land God like him.

When Mo Li had first become a Land God, he had thought he was secure. Then he suddenly learned that Bai Qi had slaughtered the snake immortal blocking his path. The snake immortal entered Bai Qi's dream and asked why he had killed him. Bai Qi replied that it was because he had blocked the road, then killed the snake immortal's primordial spirit within the dream as well. Thus, the snake immortal perished.

Mo Li, who had witnessed that scene, had been left speechless. He had quietly remained his Land God and cultivated diligently, until one day, some young man suddenly came looking for trouble with him for reasons unknown.

Mo Li asked, "System, why did you come to me?"

The host killed the previous host, and the system was stripped away by the host. Therefore, it became bound to the host.

Mo Li understood that he had taken it for himself, but he still could not understand. "You're a system, after all. Why was it so easy for me to kill your host? Don't you have any mechanism to protect your host? What happened back then? And how did I transmigrate here?"

The Destiny System has no protection mechanism. The host was too powerful at the time, while the previous host was too weak. Even the mechanism that allowed the host to counterkill enemies at the last moment was blocked by the host. The system could only activate its final measure and send the host to a random world.

Mo Li asked, "Now that you're on me, what am I supposed to do? And how do I get back?"

The Destiny System's duty was to alter fate. Its primary mission was to kill transmigrators and reincarnators. By earning enough Fate Points, one could activate the transmigration function to travel to another world, and use that function to return to one's original world.

Mo Li continued, "But several of your functions seem to be useless. It looks like your system is damaged. How do you explain that?"

Unable to answer. This system cannot understand why this situation occurred.

"Then tell me, can your system directly send me back to my original world?"

There is a certain probability of returning the host to the original world.

Mo Li began to feel uneasy. "What do you mean, a certain probability? What's going on?"

Because the previous host died, this system triggered its counterattack mechanism. After failing to attack the host, it activated the random transmigration mechanism. Therefore, it did not lock onto the coordinates of the original world. After exhausting its energy, it randomly transported the host to this world, far from the original one. To return, it can only use the host as a causal link to begin anchoring worlds again. However, the world anchored will be random, so no fixed probability can be given.

Mo Li's face darkened. "So you're saying this system can't provide me with anything right now? Other than the lottery possibly being useful, can Fate Points even be used? You can't even provide a shop system."

The host may spend one hundred million Fate Points to repair the shop system, after which items may be purchased. Fate Points can be obtained by changing fate and killing key figures ahead of time.

"Killing a reincarnated Kariya Matou only gave me ten thousand. I'd need to kill ten thousand of him to scrape together one hundred million. Are you kidding me?! Whether transmigrators or reincarnators, how could people like that possibly show up often enough for me to kill? Even killing Matou Zouken only gave five thousand. That guy could be called one of the driving forces behind the tragedy, yet he only gave that much. Where am I supposed to get one hundred million...?"

The host may activate the transmigration function and travel to another world after gathering one hundred thousand Fate Points.

Mo Li was speechless for a while before saying, "Fine. I'll give it a try. Is there anything you can give me right now? Like a beginner's gift pack?"

This system binding with the host was an accident. The gift pack has already been claimed by the previous host and cannot be provided to the host.

"Tell me what I can get from those two lotteries right now."

Anything related to Kariya Matou and Matou Zouken may be obtained.

"Can it be more specific? Can you directly give me a designated reward? For example, Kariya Matou reincarnated back into the past. Can I obtain the reward of his reincarnation?"

This system does not have that function.

Mo Li was even more speechless. What could Kariya Matou and Matou Zouken possibly have on them? Neither of them had anything worthwhile.

Mo Li said, "Forget it, let's try it. Can I use Fate Points to designate a reward? I want to activate Kariya Matou's lottery."

If he could really draw a chance to reincarnate back into the past, it would be a chance to save his life!

Yes. The more Fate Points consumed, the greater the chance of drawing the designated reward.

"I want Kariya Matou's reward of reincarnating back into the past. How much will it cost?"

One million Fate Points guarantees success.

Mo Li thought for a while before saying, "Forget it. I'll treat this as a test. I'll throw all fifteen thousand into it, then draw."

The system began the lottery. Then, to Mo Li's astonishment, he actually drew what he wanted.

One-Time Special Card: Reverse Time Node
Automatically activates upon death, allowing the user to reincarnate at a time node from their own life in this world. The corresponding time may be selected freely and will not be interfered with by any factors.

"Looks like you're still somewhat useful." Mo Li's mood finally improved as he continued studying the system he had seized for himself.