The arrogance of foresight.
It was almost a shared trait among transmigrators who knew the "plot."
The bigger the cheat, the stronger the tendency.
To Natlan's people, Lin En had given them far too much.
Protecting him was natural.
Even dying for him would be meaningful.
After all, before Lin En arrived, they were already fighting the Abyss.
And dying in greater numbers due to shortages.
But Lin En thought differently.
In the timeline where I didn't intervene, you might have survived to see victory.
Now that I've stepped in—if you die protecting me?
Then I might as well never have come.
Stubborn as he was, his Natlan friends eventually relented.
The craftsmen prepared all manner of ingenious tools for him.
The solidified phlogiston bomb earlier?
Xilonen's handiwork.
Then they escorted him and Aikefei to Natlan's border.
Some had suggested assigning elite fighters—reporting to the Great Spirit and personally escorting them to their destination.
Both Lin En and Aikefei refused.
After that—
They reached the harbor.
Missed the passenger ship.
And boarded the smuggler's vessel instead.
Back to the present.
This was also why Lin En did not intend to return to Natlan.
It wouldn't matter.
Even assuming the most ideal scenario—
Ignore every complication.
Let Mavuika, a human neither Archon nor Dragon Sovereign, receive Lin En's half of the Pyro Authority.
Let her extract the other half from the divine seat and successfully combine them within herself.
Forming something akin to a "Complete Archon," comparable to a fully realized Dragon Sovereign.
Even then—
Whether a Complete Dragon Sovereign is stronger or weaker than a top-tier Archon remains theoretical.
Most assume they're roughly equal.
Could Mavuika defeat Gosoythoth alone?
Perhaps.
But not reliably.
Don't bring up "adding Death Authority ensures victory."
Even assuming the best-case interpretation—
Even if Ronova truly bent the rules.
Even if the Six Heroes awakened at lightning speed—
Who would patch the fatal backlash of using Death Authority afterward?
In the original outcome, things ended more or less happily.
If Lin En's involvement made it worse—
Then what was the point of transmigrating?
No.
Better to stabilize things first.
Now that his cheat was fully activated—
He could grow quietly.
Boil the Abyss like a frog in warm water.
Ensure stability for the next few years.
Then—
With more trump cards.
Or when the Traveler arrived—
Deliver an even more complete ending.
That was Lin En's plan.
"By the way," Aikefei said, her joy settling into curiosity, "that 'bad luck constitution' you mentioned before… was it really that serious?"
She had listened earlier.
But something still didn't add up.
He had described it as catastrophic—
As if disaster followed him everywhere.
Yet during their months in Natlan, she hadn't noticed anything extreme.
Even after leaving Natlan—
Nothing much had happened.
Except boarding this ship.
"It was real," Lin En replied. "The Lord of Smoke and Mystery helped conduct a ritual. Complicated process—but effective. It temporarily blocked most of it."
When he first arrived in Natlan, misfortune had indeed trailed him.
The World Seed's power countered each incident, preventing true disaster.
But observant people noticed patterns.
By then, he had begun rising in prominence.
A priest from the Lord of Smoke and Mystery approached to help.
At first, nothing worked.
Lin En didn't mind. He accepted the goodwill.
But they refused to give up.
They escalated.
From human priests—
To non-human entities.
Including the Great Elder of the Dusksight Dragon.
Other ritual specialists from various tribes.
Eventually—
Even Citlali.
Even Mavuika.
And somehow—
They succeeded.
As Citlali and Mavuika explained afterward:
Through ritual, they channeled a projection of the Night Kingdom.
Using the Great Spirit as foundation.
Leveraging the Pyro Archon's power to pry open the Night's authority.
They placed a veil over Lin En.
At the time—
It worked.
The intensity and frequency of misfortune decreased.
Not enough to free the World Seed entirely—
But enough, combined with its efforts, to grant Lin En over half a year of relative normalcy.
But—
Wait.
A sudden thought struck him.
He had just witnessed Teyvat's planetary will suppress universal rejection.
Even at planetary scale—
That concealment came at great cost.
Teyvat had to enter dormancy afterward.
Granted—
At that time, his world had already been born.
The rejection pressure had intensified.
But back then—
Natlan's ritual had been performed by priests.
By a single Archon.
Leveraging one nation's ley lines.
And they had achieved something similar.
The most curious part?
Afterward, they looked exhausted—
But only in need of rest.
Recoverable.
Was that…
Right?