Noah was a fantastic liar, and he was great at hiding his emotions. His acting skills were incredible, even if he didn't rely on them so often anymore. His path led him to express his individuality, and he couldn't risk tainting it.
Yet, he still needed to pretend when it came to June and some of his powers. He couldn't just reveal all his secrets to his enemies.
However, all that experience in feigning his emotions didn't help him when he heard Danielle's words.
It wasn't hard to understand what she meant, and Noah even believed that her punch had only been a test. She needed to assess his physical strength to be sure of her guess.
'Did this world use to have hybrids?' Noah questioned himself, but there was a more pressing matter in front of him.
Danielle's words had been soft, but the cultivators behind him were rank 4 mages. Their consciousnesses couldn't have missed hearing her, especially when she was attacking their leader!
The fact that he was a hybrid was one of his biggest secrets, and he wasn't ready to reveal it to the world.
The Hive and the other factions could have picked up some clues about his body-nourishing method, but they were useless without actual confirmations. Also, the thought that he had fused himself with a magical beast was quite unbelievable, and that further hindered their ability to understand.
"Humans haven't been able to wield the beas-," Danielle began to speak, but Noah quickly interrupted her by raising his voice.
"This conversation should be private!" Noah shouted, and both sides felt surprised when they heard him, especially his companions.
Noah was always cold and calculative with his behavior. They had never seen him losing his cool.
Their interest obviously spiked at that point, but Danielle didn't fail to understand the meaning behind his sudden action and decided to protect his secret.
"Follow me," Danielle said while moving her gaze toward her wrist still locked in Noah's grasp.
Noah nodded at her when he noticed that gesture, and he slowly released her while storing his saber and dispersing his spell. His eyes though didn't leave the tall woman even when she turned to fly toward the center of the region.
If someone were to look at Noah's expression, they would believe that Noah had been captivated by Danielle's beauty and was unable to stop looking at her. However, the truth was that his interest in the matter was so high that he could barely contain himself from asking the questions that were popping in his mind.
Noah followed Danielle, and the other envoys did the same. The three natives limited themselves to escort the group while keeping some distance from it. No one talked. The envoys were still surprised by the sudden change of attitude of the rank 5 cultivator, while Noah was simply waiting to be alone with her.
Of course, the envoys didn't fail to link Noah's body with that change. It was the only logical conclusion, but they didn't really understand what they had discovered.
Noah's body was still a mystery in their minds, but it was a mystery that seemed extremely important in that world. Only June had a clearer picture of the situation since she knew that Noah shared many similarities with the magical beasts.
Danielle led the group in one empty area that lacked any sign of civilization. However, when she waved her hand, a crack spread in the sky and revealed a tall castle hidden behind that cloaking spell.
The envoys went through the fissure and found themselves in what appeared to be a transparent dome.
The castle wasn't the only building inside those glassy walls. There were many mansions laid around the perimeter of that huge structure, and a series of training grounds spread behind it.
Also, Noah didn't fail to notice that the awful smell had increased in intensity when he entered the dome.
'This should be one of the most protected places in the entire region.' Noah thought.
He had already begun to link the intensity of that scent with the defenses of an item or area. Its purpose was quite evident for someone who could recognize it. As for the three natives, they simply remained on the other side of the crack and watched as it quickly closed.
Danielle led the group inside the castle, and a series of human cultivators with two centers of power welcomed their arrival with a military salute.
She didn't look at them and continued to speed through the large corridor unfolding in front of the envoys. Noah and the others didn't even have time to inspect the environment for fear that she would disappear if they lost their focus.
Danielle slowed down only when they reached a large hall, where other human cultivators welcomed her again and waited for further orders.
It appeared that those weak soldiers guarded the entirety of the castle, and their status seemed to be higher compared to that of the rank 2 cultivator still carried by the Empire's envoy.
'They should be some kind of Royal Guards, but they are just humans.' Noah thought before losing interest in them.
Danielle completely stopped when she reached the end of the hall and turned to look at Noah at that point.
"The rest of you must remain here." She said. "The guards will bring you everything you ask."
Then, she crossed the door at the end of the hall without waiting for their reaction.
Noah quickly followed her even if he felt that the envoys were about to shout a series of complaints. However, they didn't say anything when they saw that Noah had already left them.
Also, they didn't dare to break Danielle's orders for fear of undermining the opportunity of a peaceful relationship with that world.
Danielle brought Noah in the deepest parts of the castle, where a series of paintings depicted images of cultivators slaying giant beasts with their bare hands. Some of them even used abilities belonging to the magical beasts' world!
Yet, when he saw a painting depicting a human eating the raw meat of a giant snake, he felt the need to stop to admire it.
"We weren't always so weak," Danielle said when she noticed his behavior. "We used to treat those beasts as nothing more than food when the bloodline of our ancestor still existed in this world."
Noah remained silent when he heard her. He knew that he was about to learn what made that world so strange.
"Limitations often accompany power due to Heaven and Earth's fairness, but we managed to keep that bloodline alive even with its poor fertility." Danielle continued while pointing at a painting that featured a series of naked men around a woman lain on a large bed.
"Yet, they crossed a limit when they tried to give a dantian to every cultivator, and lightning storms filled the sky until all of them were reduced to dust."