Seeing the fist right before his eyes, Lin Yan remained completely unfazed.
After all, within the confines of this house, any attack would be nullified, and the attacker would be completely suppressed.
The source of all this was the [Empowerment Panel] that Lin Yan had awakened a year ago.
The Empowerment Panel: by altering the course of the original world line's story, he could obtain 'Empowerment Points'.
The function of Empowerment Points was to empower items that were mere empty shells, granting them true power.
In truth, this ability was easy to understand. For example, if he were to empower a model of a handgun, upon successful empowerment, it would transform from a model into a real handgun.
Empowerment was also subdivided into 'Primal Empowerment' and 'Chaotic Empowerment'.
Primal Empowerment was just like the example above; it would allow an item to exert its inherent power.
Chaotic Empowerment, on the other hand, would grant an item a portion of its inherent power while also adding either a positive or negative attribute.
For instance, using Chaotic Empowerment on a Glock handgun model might result in a 'Glock: Infinite Ammo', or it could result in a 'Glock: Random Trajectory'.
As for the small courtyard and the pink door that had followed him through his transmigration, they were masterpieces he had cooked up using Chaotic Empowerment.
[Sanctuary: Within the courtyard's range, any item belonging to the house is in a state of indestructibility and infinite energy. Within this range, the owner can suppress all living creatures. Chaotic Empowerment Attribute—'They Came to Life' 'They Came to Life': All of the figurines in the room will randomly gain consciousness, but the timeline their consciousness belongs to is unstable.]
[Anywhere Door · Chaotic Empowerment 1—'Leave It to Fate' Leave It to Fate: Can transport the entire house to any location, even crossing world barriers to arrive in other worlds. However, the destination is uncontrollable, and the timeline cannot be chosen. Chaotic Empowerment 2—'Fill-in-the-Blank' Fill-in-the-Blank: To leave a world anchor for continued travel, you must correctly answer with the name of the current world.]
What? You ask how Lin Yan got the Empowerment Points to create these two things?
A newbie starter pack?
No, no, no~
In the words of the Empowerment Panel itself, in Lin Yan's original world line, he was destined to be an ordinary person.
But after obtaining the Empowerment Panel, his world line was drastically altered and became uncontrollable. That was why a massive number of Empowerment Points emerged, enough for him to empower the 'Sanctuary' and the 'Anywhere Door'.
"So? Do you believe me now?" Lin Yan sat in the chair opposite, his expression impassive, as he calmly lifted his cup and took a sip of strong tea.
Seeing that Vander was completely still, only blinking his eyes, he waved his hand and released the suppression on him.
"How does it feel to be enveloped by the 'Arcane'?" he asked again, blowing on the steam rising from the hot tea.
Freed from the suppression, Vander was now panting heavily.
That feeling of being enveloped and crushed by an unknown power was not pleasant.
If he had to make an analogy, it would be like being pinned to the bottom of the sea by a giant hand!
The pressure surging from all directions made him unable to move a muscle.
Still shaken, he looked at Lin Yan, only to see him push the tea on the table toward him, gesturing that it was drinkable.
The tea was somewhat bitter at first, but it had a sweet aftertaste, and its fragrance flowed from his throat into his nasal passages.
Due to the extremely poor air quality in Zaun, most people there preferred beer and various hard liquors. They had no interest in things like tea; most had never even heard of it.
Because of this, Vander found the taste of the drink in his cup to be refreshing and somewhat surprising, but what intrigued him more was the 'Arcane' that Lin Yan spoke of.
"This Arcane you speak of..."
"Don't pry, don't ask."
"Alright then..." Vander shrugged noncommittally at Lin Yan's words.
If he said not to ask, he wouldn't ask.
He turned his head to look at Vi and Powder, who were still sound asleep in the room.
Seeing the two of them still sleeping soundly on the large, soft bed, a hint of gentleness flashed in his eyes.
"Vander, what are your thoughts after the failure to charge the bridge?" Lin Yan set down his cup and looked at Vander.
Hearing Lin Yan's words, Vander understood that there was a hidden meaning.
His fists clenched, then relaxed again.
His volatile temper was suppressed once more in the depths of his heart.
At this moment, he wanted to hear what this Arcanist, Lin Yan, had to say next.
"Vander, when you organized the bridge protest, you and Silco were just hot-headed. You wanted to fight for the welfare the undercity deserved, but you never considered the price of doing so, or the price of failure."
"Now that the plan has failed, you want to kill your own brother? Do you think that's the right thing to do?"
Lin Yan's words were exceptionally grating to his ears.
Meeting Lin Yan's gaze, he retorted, "...We only planned for a demonstration this time. We never thought it would erupt into such a massive conflict."
"If Silco hadn't thrown that Molotov cocktail that burned an enforcer to death, this incident never would have turned out this way! He's too radical!"
"When I found him, he was already planning the next bridge protest! If I don't kill him, even more people will die!"
At this, Vander took a deep breath, then let out a long sigh, seeming to age ten years in an instant. "But it's undeniable, I was wrong to try and kill Silco. Just as you said, a proper leader wouldn't do that."
Saying this, Vander even laughed self-deprecatingly. "Heh... I actually regret it now."
"So, you, an Arcanist who can foresee the future, can you see what the future looks like after my split with Silco?" Vander looked up at Lin Yan, his expression somewhat uncertain.
Hearing this, Lin Yan chuckled softly. Finally, back to the main plot.
"Naturally, I can."
"In the future, you will die. Benzo will also die. Your adopted sons, Mylo and Claggor, will all die. Powder will become a lunatic and will later turn against Vi. The conflict between the topside and the undercity will intensify even further. That is the future."
"And it's all because I wanted to kill Silco?" After hearing the 'future' from Lin Yan's mouth, the expression on Vander's face was one of disbelief.
He couldn't believe that a mere falling out between brothers could lead to such immense consequences.
"It's not solely because you wanted to kill Silco, but it has a great deal to do with it."
"If you don't want to watch your family die one by one before your eyes, then before the future tragedy occurs, find Silco and make things clear with him."
"You regret it anyway, don't you?" Lin Yan shrugged slightly.
From the plot of Arcane, it's known that Vander did in fact want to find Silco and apologize, but he gave up because he couldn't find him.
At that time, after Jinx saw the letter Vander had left, she also said that if Silco had seen it, perhaps they wouldn't have broken apart.
Therefore... if he wanted to change the future plot, Lin Yan only needed to push things along from the position of a 'prophet'.
Hearing what Lin Yan said, Vander's expression grew somewhat silent.
His face showed a hint of struggle, and the bloodshot veins in his eyes, already present from a sleepless night, were now even more pronounced.
Finally, he raised his head and looked at Lin Yan.
"You're not lying to me, are you?"
"Lying to you? Is there a need?" Lin Yan spread his hands.
Vander let out a long breath, his conflicted expression gradually relaxing.
As if letting go of something, he slowly stood up and walked towards the door.
At the doorway, Vander turned sideways to look behind him. "I'll have to trouble you to take care of those two little ones for now. I'll bring them back after I've settled things in the undercity."
Having said that, Vander was about to turn and leave.
But words from behind stopped him in his tracks.
"Hey! Vander!"
"Aren't you afraid I might have ill intentions towards these two little things? This is the undercity, a place that eats people whole," Lin Yan teased.
Faced with Lin Yan's teasing, Vander chuckled lightly and looked around.
"As an Arcanist who can easily kill ordinary people, if you wanted to be up to no good, I doubt anyone in the entire undercity could stop you, right?"
"Tsk~ The way you say it makes me feel embarrassed." Lin Yan chuckled, then casually grabbed a plastic bag from the side and tossed it to Vander.
Catching the item Lin Yan threw, Vander opened it and took a look.
Inside the bag were buttered bread, candy, chocolate, cookies, mineral water...
Looking up at Lin Yan, who was waving goodbye to him, Vander felt a warmth in his heart. "...Thanks."
Although he couldn't understand why this person was helping him, he would certainly not reject another's kindness and would be grateful for it.
It wasn't until Vander had walked out of the courtyard that two lines of small text appeared before Lin Yan's eyes.
[Slightly altered a portion of the plot of 'The Battle of Two Cities'.]
[Empowerment Points +100]