Li Fan looked towards the mist-shrouded core area in the distance, certain that his previous deductions were correct.
He hadn't expected the source of the ancient tower's widespread mutation to be the Ancestral Dragon.
Seeing that Zhiyan showed no signs of shell discoloration from hypermetabolism and was smaller than a regular Black Wolf Bird.
Checking his handheld device, he found that none of the monsters had any new status effects.
Li Fan inferred that the method of mutation here was very different from the divine realm left by the Molten Island's Alatreon.
At least, it wasn't simply a matter of prolonged occupation.
Roar!
Kuku let out a determined roar.
Roar.
Zhiyan lowered its head, as if sighing in resignation.
"Kuku says he'll stay here, and Zhiyan says Kuku is too naive, unable to survive in the ancient tower area."
Li Fan translated.
"It seems Zhiyan has good intentions, meow," Dilu sighed.
Roar!
Roar.
Roar! Roar!
"Kuku says I have a strong background. Zhiyan says it's useless no matter how strong. Kuku insists it's useful. It seems it's our turn to appear. Sparkle, let's go!"
At Li Fan's shout, the Mantis Captain, who had been crouching on the ground, immediately stood up and began to advance towards the ruins of Kuku's tower.
Roar. Roar!
Upon hearing the heavy footsteps, Zhiyan immediately issued a warning with a roar.
Seeing Kuku unmoved, it pecked again.
Clang! Kuku was pecked back half a step and roared, indicating not to worry.
Zhiyan wanted to continue persuading Kuku, but upon seeing the giant walking in the ruins, it quickly flapped its wings and took to the sky.
Kuku quickly followed.
After creating sufficient distance, Zhiyan turned and hovered, its scarlet eyes fixed on the giant's location.
A Rathalos stood on the giant's left shoulder, a Rathian on its right, and a Zinogre, shimmering with golden light, circled above.
To the outside of its legs, a Brachydios followed.
Roar!
Kuku's roar jolted Zhiyan, which had been somewhat stunned, back to attention.
Roar!
Seeing Kuku fly towards the giant, Zhiyan let out an anxious roar to warn it.
However, not only did it not pay attention, but it also increased its flying speed.
Zhiyan hesitated for a moment before reluctantly following behind.
Kuku flew in front of the Mantis Captain, looked around, and finally found that only the tilted head had space left, so it landed there.
"Come on! 3! 2! 1! Hello Zhiyan! We are all Kuku's friends!"
Roar! Roar!
Led by Li Fan, all the monsters shouted at Zhiyan.
Whoosh~ Whoosh~
Apart from the wind pressure from Zhiyan flapping its wings, the surroundings were eerily quiet.
Zhiyan slowly retreated a little, turned around, and began to flee at its fastest speed.
Roar! Roar! Roar?
Kuku, still roaring from the top of its tilted head, saw it turn and run and quickly flapped its wings to chase after it.
"Kuku, you can't catch up! Don't go!"
Li Fan warned.
Kuku let out a low hum in the direction Zhiyan was leaving and dejectedly returned to the Mantis Captain's head.
"What's the problem, meow?" Dilu asked, puzzled.
"Neither Kuku nor Zhiyan are accepted by their own kind or the ecosystem. But Kuku has a monster team, while Zhiyan is completely unable to adapt in this regard." Li Fan speculated.
"I see, meow. If Kuku hadn't joined the team, he would likely be like Zhiyan now, unable to get along with other monsters." Dilu realized.
Due to long-term rejection from the outside world, Zhiyan had lost the ability to interact with monsters.
Only someone as similar as Kuku could engage in normal communication; otherwise, there were only two options: fight or flee.
"Zhiyan has been around here for quite some time. Once it calms down, let's let Kuku and Zhiyan have some alone time," Li Fan decided.
After two hours of exploration in the outer area, a habitable zone was demarcated.
In the past, when Li Fan entered an area, he would set restrictions out of fear that the monsters would damage the local ecosystem.
Doing so now was for safety reasons, especially after learning that the Ancestral Dragon might appear from the ancient tower secret realm.
The night passed quickly. Li Fan tried wearing the Heaven-Defying Charm twice more and, confirming it was fine, prepared for the next day's actions.
The sky, tinged with light, was shrouded in mist.
Not a single ray of sunlight could penetrate the clouds to reach the ground littered with ruins.
On the deck, Li Fan installed the riding seat on Wánpí's back.
Today's main objective was an ecological survey of the ancient tower's outer perimeter.
This was done for two reasons: to gather more intelligence.
While the Heaven-Defying Charm theoretically wouldn't betray him, he had to maintain extreme vigilance regarding the Ancestral Dragon's existence.
And the best way to assess the risk of an area was through ecological surveys.
Secondly, Kuku and Zhiyan's interaction also needed sufficient time to settle.
Yesterday, not only did no conflict arise between the two monsters, but they also seemed to empathize with each other. Li Fan felt this was a good start.
Before long, Li Fan and Dilu, riding Wánpí, departed from the airship's deck.
The investigation points they were heading to were the tops of the broken ancient tower ruins.
The reason was that based on last night's observations, most of the ancient tower ruins had monsters nesting on top.
Sufficient height would allow them to avoid disturbances and ensure the safety of monster eggs and young as nests, which seemed logical.
However, this was an area with numerous ancient towers. If they nested on lower tower tops, monsters on higher towers could easily spy on everything in their nests.
Furthermore, the higher the tower top, the higher the ecological niche of the monster inhabiting it.
This was extremely illogical, much like a Great Jaggi would never choose to nest in an area below a Rathalos.
Therefore, there must be a hidden reason.
On the dragon's back, Li Fan and Dilu were currently recording and sketching the general surroundings with paper and pen.
As for seeking support from the Guild for intelligence, Li Fan had considered it before.
However, there wasn't even a base camp here, and he had already seen most of the Guild's classified information regarding forbidden matters in East Dondruma.
Yet, it only vaguely confirmed the existence of the Ancestral Dragon, with no other related intelligence.
After half a day of observation, the man and cat visited the tops of several outer ancient tower ruins.
The monsters here were mainly four-star monsters. Although they were unhappy about outsiders, they could only retreat when facing Wánpí.
Returning to the Crimson Fire, Li Fan and Dilu compiled the acquired intelligence and materials and began their research.
Comparing them with the standard monster materials in the illustration book, Li Fan found no abnormalities in the collected materials.
"How strange. The outer monsters have been living around the core area for a long time, so it must be adaptive mutation, but compared to monsters in other areas, there are no abnormalities."
Li Fan muttered.
Although he had long suspected that the mechanism of mutation here was different from that of the divine realm, the current situation exceeded his expectations.
"It's the same here, meow..." Dilu said dejectedly after comparing the carapace on its paw.
"Could it be triggered mutation?" Li Fan picked up the area map drawn by the two and proposed another hypothesis.
"No, meow, didn't you say that it would only be triggered mutation if Kuku ate the Rathian's Gem?" Dilu informed him.
"Yes, the core of the mutation is forbidden, but if it doesn't trigger a region like the divine realm, we can't achieve mutation by eating forbidden materials, can we?"
Li Fan was a bit frustrated as the ecological research stalled.
At this moment, the ship swayed twice, and Kuku's cry was heard.
"Back so soon?"
Li Fan was a little surprised. He thought Kuku would seize this rare opportunity to stay with Zhiyan.
"Li Fan! Kuku seems to be looking for Shield Beetles, meow!" Pachi, who flew out of the cat slide, called from the doorway. Seeing the man and cat analyzing samples in the cabin, he quickly apologized, "Sorry, I was too hasty, meow."
"It's alright, Pachi. I guess Kuku wants to share with Zhiyan."
Soon, the box containing Shield Beetles was brought to the deck.
Kuku stuffed four Shield Beetles into its large beak, held one in each claw, and then took off.
Seeing that the two monsters were getting along well, Li Fan wanted to gather some intelligence, so he rode Wánpí and set off again, following them.
The reason was that he speculated that given Zhiyan's special circumstances, it must have participated in some mutation process.
Before long, Li Fan, riding Wánpí, arrived at the ancient tower ruins.
There was no grand spectacle like yesterday, and Zhiyan's emotions were much more stable.
However, it was still clearly wary of Li Fan and Dilu.
But under Kuku's Shield Beetle assault, it soon became less concerned.
The man and cat did not conduct extensive investigations to avoid arousing its suspicion.
Woooo~ Woooo~ Woooo~
Perhaps it was too happy to have made a friend, Kuku and Zhiyan fully unfurled their fan-shaped auricles, flapped their wings, and jumped in place.
"It sounds so unpleasant, meow." Dilu covered its ears with its paws.
"Be content. At least you don't understand the lyrics," Li Fan said with a helpless expression.
"What are Kuku and Zhiyan singing, meow?" Dilu became curious.
"Hmm, I gaze afar, above the moon, how many nebulae drift freely, day forgets, losing its sorrow, I will reunite with you, on that vast road, life has been drawn, tides ebb and flow, nearing the Ancestor is paradise."
"It has a lot of artistic conception, meow. But Li Fan, didn't you hum this song before?" Dilu asked in surprise.
"Yes, because the lyrics and melody matched well, so I sang it." Li Fan felt that if he were to replicate Kuku and Zhiyan's original singing style, not only might his throat not be able to handle it, but it would definitely sound terrible.
"Wait, 'I gaze afar, above the moon'?" Li Fan muttered the lyrics while looking at the dark clouds in the sky above the ancient tower secret realm.
The dark clouds there didn't look like storm clouds but rather like the reflection of the night.
Legend has it that from the tower tops there, one could only see the night sky no matter when they looked up. Could it be true?
If this were confirmed, that night sky might be the Ancestral Dragon's location. Li Fan speculated.
This would provide a reasonable explanation for the Ancestral Dragon's habitat.
Otherwise, given the densely populated environment of the ancient tower secret realm, it was impossible to connect it to the Ancestral Dragon's habitat.
"So, is the specific habitat the night sky? Or the moon?"
"Li Fan, what are you thinking about, meow?" Dilu asked, confused.
"Dilu, do you think any monsters can live on the moon?"
"That's a strange question, meow. Probably not... But legend says when the moon devours the sun, it signifies the arrival of great disaster." Dilu informed him.
"Quite a grand spectacle. We have to wait for an eclipse before setting out. Wait, that forbidden monster's scales and shell are unnaturally white, and it only appears during an eclipse. Could it be..."
Boom! Just as Li Fan was muttering, a distorted black lightning bolt struck down from the sky of the secret realm.
Crack! A large number of bright red spots shattered, and the towering ancient tower ruins in the secret realm were instantly illuminated red.
"Phew~ I was scared to death. I thought I was perceived for discussing forbidden matters." Li Fan clutched his chest, calmed his nerves, and began to study the anomaly.
This was undoubtedly a strike formed by Dragon element energy. Judging by its scale, which spanned across the heavens and earth, it was unlikely that even Elder Dragons, let alone a Dire Miralis, could cause such a massive strike.
Why does it look a little off? That's right, Dragon element abilities turn from red to black when they cause explosions.
The nature of this Dragon element display was reversed!
Having witnessed Lei Ge's battles multiple times, Li Fan quickly noticed the abnormality.
"Reversed Dragon element? What a joke."
This strangeness was like trying to revive a monster's corpse by roasting it on a fire.
Roar! Roar! Roar!
Zhiyan's eyes flashed red, and with a roar, it ran to the very edge of the ancient tower's summit.
Li Fan then noticed that the red spots that exploded from the black lightning strike were spreading outwards from the impact point.
Zhiyan gazed devoutly at the red spots, and then, with a sudden turn of its head, saw Kuku still watching cluelessly. It quickly roared to warn it.
"Come and welcome the Ancestor's power... Is this the reason for the mutation?"
Li Fan realized this and had no time to study the Dragon element.
He quickly ran to Zhiyan's side and asked, "Isn't the Ancestor's power stronger the closer you are to the ancient tower secret realm? Why are you waiting here?"
Zhiyan hesitated for a moment and responded with a low growl.
"The Gold and Silver will kill those who trespass? This is mutation! Who are the Gold and Silver to dare compete with a monster team? All units, deploy!"
Li Fan finished speaking, mounted Wánpí, and took off.
He released Huìhuì, tapped furiously on his handheld device, and then flew rapidly towards the ancient tower secret realm.
Zhiyan watched Wánpí fly away rapidly, stunned for a moment.
It couldn't quite understand why this human was more excited than itself when mutation was mentioned.
Roar!
Kuku spread its wings and roared, telling Zhiyan to hurry up. With Li Fan around, there would definitely be no problems.
Just as it was about to leap, Kuku turned back, picked up a curled-up Shield Beetle in its beak, and then, with satisfaction, took off.
Zhiyan pondered for a moment and then followed.
Crimson Fire.
The Dragon element strike and Li Fan's emergency summons had all come very suddenly.
The Mantis Captain on the ground flicked out several silk threads to entangle Zhánzhán, then began to sprint.
Xīxī also set off immediately, while Little Fool, who remained on the airship, was a bit flustered.
Because just now, Pachi and Leaf had moved the dragon egg to the deck for Little Fool to examine.