John felt puzzled; he himself didn't know when this mark had appeared.
Abby seemed reluctant to elaborate further, but she added, "This is the Tree of Life. The next time you encounter a branch of the Tree of Life, or a fragment of a continent that shares its origin with us, this will remind you."
"But now is not the time to discuss this. You should try to see if you can now mobilize the power of control."
John tentatively circulated the power within his body.
He felt that his control over the power of control had slightly increased.
"Try to feel more carefully that this continent actually has fatal spots."
"Once you connect all these fatal spots together, that will be your opportunity to deal with that person."
Abby's voice was very gentle, yet it carried a hint of elusiveness, perhaps due to discomfort from her injuries.
Old Nick remained silent, his hands trembling a bit more as he drank.
John closed his eyes, suppressing his impatience, and began to feel the continent carefully.
Fatal spots, huh?
If he searched carefully, would things start to look different?
Soon, John felt as if something extra had entered his mind.
Then, his mind power transformed into a gentle breeze that swept across the entire continent.
He saw lush trees and spotted various minerals hidden across the land.
He even saw many monsters gathered together.
Suddenly, John noticed a cold region at the northernmost part of the continent.
There appeared to be a hexagram on the ground there.
His mind power tentatively touched the hexagram.
The hexagram flashed, and then he felt as if his mind power had been electrocuted!
A wave of intense pain turned John's face pale.
He instinctively withdrew all his mind power, but he noticed that the hexagram seemed to be responding to his touch.
The injured mind power slowly returned to normal at that moment, and there was even a slight increase.
He endured the lingering pain and focused on the hexagram.
The pain from the mind power strike felt different from physical pain but was still within an acceptable range.
He clearly sensed that this hexagram was a formation, and it was the strongest formation left on this continent!
Its name was...
World-Annihilator level!
"So, this task must be left to you."
John took a deep breath and carefully marked down everything about the formation.
Then, he detailed what situations they might encounter on the way.
"On the way, there might be..."
John suddenly paused mid-sentence.
Isabella was puzzled, wondering what had happened.
"What's wrong? Did you think of something?"
Cecilia was also confused, wondering why everything had come to a sudden halt after they were discussing things so smoothly just moments ago.
"I think I've thought of a way to make our journey faster," John took a deep breath.
How had he forgotten?
There were actually many monsters on this road.
But now, because he possessed the power of control, those monsters had a natural affinity for him.
Even with a full movement speed buff, the journey might take 15 hours.
However, if they were carried by flying monsters, plus the buff, the time could be shortened to just five hours!
This meant that they only had to hold on for those five hours and then, at the last moment when activating the formation, lead Alastair away.
Cecilia's eyes lit up after hearing John's idea.
"You really are a genius!"
Hearing her say this, John felt a mix of emotions, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
"I'll gather a group of flying eagles first, then we'll coordinate the necessary supplies here. We absolutely can't go with fewer people; we need at least 500!"
Given that each person's carrying capacity was limited, even if they brought nothing else but energy stones, borax, and black iron ore, it would still require 500 people.
"Pulling 500 people from a single fortress might be difficult; let's spread it out," Archibald, true to his professional military family background, immediately thought of this.
"And we need even more people to ensure that if anything unexpected happens, we can have others continue the mission."
"So let's set the number at 700 people."
John closed his eyes again, deeply sensing all the energy stones on this road!
He discovered that aside from the ones dropping in the bat cave, there was also a small vein.
This time, he didn't hesitate at all and immediately used the power of control to extract all the energy stones.
His control over the power wasn't complete, so whatever action he took, Alastair would feel it.
But he couldn't worry about that now.
This was their only chance, and they had to seize it!