Chapter 353 The Price of Forbidden Power
After chatting with Allen for a while, Zara also inspected Thunderhorn's living environment.
Once she confirmed that Thunderhorn's life here was more or less as comfortable as she had imagined, she felt fairly satisfied.
At least she had kept her promise to that man.
Of course, she still did not know why she had such a strange fondness for Owen.
With her loyal face-judging standards, the fact that she had felt goodwill toward Owen at first sight was practically a miracle.
Thunderhorn now even had an additional walking area. Based on Zara's suggestion, the base was considering expanding outward. The area near the mountain would be reserved for mystic beasts like Thunderhorn.
Zara found their decision a little strange.
Were they... planning to start captive breeding?
But when she thought about what might happen in the future, she suddenly felt it was not that unrealistic.
After all, her own house was already one step away from becoming a zoo.
While Zara was touring the base, Lucian's side was not exactly peaceful either.
Lucian had taken Noctilion back the night before, but he had not placed him somewhere ordinary.
Instead, he had brought him to a special location.
It was a private estate Lucian had built himself. The security there was extremely tight, and every system was equipped with high-end technology. Basically, even a mosquito flying in would trigger a full security alert.
Lucian had not put Noctilion there to protect him. Obviously, it was to prevent Noctilion from escaping.
When Lucian brought him back the night before, he did not speak to Noctilion. It was not until the next morning that he finally opened the box Noctilion had been locked inside.
Seeing Lucian's calm face, Noctilion let out a strange laugh. "I thought you were going to keep me locked in there forever. Although I don't know why that woman trusts you so much, I suppose you must have something unusual about you."
Lucian raised an eyebrow. "I suppose I do."
Noctilion crawled out of the box on his own. Then he turned his head and looked at Lucian. "You're not afraid of me. I can tell. You're from this world."
Unlike that woman, who always gave him a chaotic, unreadable feeling.
Lucian said, "Why would I be afraid of you? I'm not trying to look down on you, but in your current state, aside from biting me a couple of times, what else can you do? And after you bite me, there's a very high chance I'll turn you into soup."
Noctilion fell silent.
He straightened his little body. If his tongue had flicked out just then, he probably would have looked even more like a snake.
His eyes narrowed slightly. "You didn't ask for me just to separate us. Say it. What do you want to know?"
Noctilion was still clever enough to understand that Lucian had not taken him simply to raise him somewhere else.
This man did not look easy to deal with, and he definitely was not the type to do charity.
Lucian smiled faintly. "Actually, I admire you a little. At least you look smarter than Aurelion and Dino."
Spending too much time around sweet, clueless creatures could be contagious. Talking to something intelligent, on the other hand, saved a lot of effort.
"Don't compare me to those useless creatures raised by the Upper Realm!" Noctilion gave a cold snort. "But if you want me to talk, it won't be that easy."
Lucian said, "I don't need to know too much. Whatever you told her, you will tell me."
Noctilion asked, "And if I don't?"
Lucian lowered his eyes slightly, his smile elegant and unsettling.
"Soup might be too much for now," he said softly. "But making a few preparations first should be fine."
Noctilion fell silent.
He understood the threat perfectly.
"It wasn't anything important," Noctilion said. "She only asked me about some irrelevant nonsense."
Then Noctilion told Lucian directly about the lord of the forbidden zone.
To him, it was not important information anyway.
In Noctilion's eyes, the matter was not worth much attention. After all, the existence of a forbidden zone lord was like speaking of a legendary figure, the kind of being that would never truly intersect with the real world.
Lucian, however, fell into thought after listening.
Noctilion did not know what he was thinking. He only gave a strange smile.
"If you're thinking about the lord of the forbidden zone, I'd advise you not to waste your time.
Even if you know about him, it won't change anything.
The lords of the forbidden zones won't step into the real world.
If they were willing to do so, taking over the world would be nothing more than a moment's work. That's exactly why they don't appear."
He continued, "They have nothing to do with the other world's invasion plan, and they have nothing to do with Earth's defenses either."
In other words, they were like the myths and legends of Country A.
Even if those myths were real, they would not appear.
The gap between them and ordinary beings was simply too vast. It could no longer be described as a difference in rank.
Lucian suddenly asked a question that surprised Noctilion. "Have you met their Holy Sovereign?"
Noctilion paused. "Of course. I've met two of them."
Although every living being would eventually perish and none could withstand the erosion of time forever, mystic beasts and humans were fundamentally different.
In the other world, a human Holy Sovereign could live for about one hundred and fifty years at most, while ordinary humans usually lived around a hundred years. That was only slightly longer than humans on Earth.
Mystic beasts were different.
A being at Noctilion's level could easily live for five hundred years.
And the less a mystic beast moved, the longer it usually lived. For example, Skybeasts in the other world carried entire cities through the skies and could generally live for over a thousand years.
But even that was considered the limit of mystic beasts.
That was why people believed that even if legendary mystic beasts had once existed, most of them had already vanished.
And with bloodlines growing weaker generation after generation, the world could no longer give birth to mystic beasts of that level.
It was similar to how Earth's pollution had grown worse over time.
Noctilion had once been raised by the Upper Realm too. But in the end, he had failed to resist the temptation of the forbidden zone. For the sake of power, he had stepped inside.
And that was how he had become the Noctilion he was now.
Looking back, it did seem true.
When he had been in his original form, he had not thought this much. He certainly would not have calmly answered this man's questions.
Yet after shrinking, once his power disappeared, his intelligence seemed to have returned with it.
Could this be the price of gaining power?
Lucian said, "I know the Holy Sovereign has the strongest power in the entire Imperial Clan. Compared with you, how strong is he?"
Noctilion glanced at Lucian with disdain. "Do you want the truth?"
"Of course."
Noctilion lifted his head proudly. "I was one of the strongest among mystic beasts. Humans are indeed powerful, but at my peak, their Holy Sovereign was no match for me."
He paused, then added, "But that's also because the Imperial Clan has grown weaker. In ancient times, the Imperial Clan's strength was not inferior to ours. Otherwise, they would never have been able to establish a peace treaty with the mystic beasts and allow humanity to develop to this day."
"As for the previous Holy Sovereign I met, if it hadn't been for the bloodline memories suppressing us and preventing us from attacking people of the Upper Realm, he would have been far from my opponent."
Noctilion's tone grew colder. "But they still have several ancient ferocious beasts that were captured and sealed away long ago. If those things were released and we truly fought, I wouldn't be their match."
Some truths still had to be admitted.