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!
With nearly 56% control over the power of control, John was acutely aware of what this formation was.
If fully activated, not only semigod-tier beings would be a concern.
Even if facing real deities, he could contend for a few rounds!
It turned out their path to survival was here! John's eyes snapped open, and he looked excitedly at Abby and Nick!
If that was the case, then all they needed to do was activate the formation to break through from within!
"It seems you've found it, so I won't need to say much more. You'll have to handle the rest on your own."
Old Nick laughed as he stood up, patting the nonexistent dust off himself, took another sip of his drink, and then staggered, preparing to leave.
"We are old now; this world isn't ours anymore."
"It's time to see how you young folks will perform."
Archibald didn't quite understand what had happened, but he respectfully stepped aside as the others left, then looked at John with excited eyes, his hands trembling slightly.
"What now? Do we really have a chance to defeat him?"
John thought about what he had just seen, nodded gravely, but finally added, "Indeed we can, but it requires a substantial amount of resources, and as of now, that's somewhat challenging for us."
Archibald looked puzzled but then heard John continue.
"That place is too far; even if we traveled day and night, it would still take a full day and night. Moreover, activating the formation requires a massive amount of energy."
The highest-grade resources they currently possessed were energy stones.
However... the energy stones were also needed to maintain the protective shield here; they simply couldn't spare any more.
Furthermore, reaching that place would take about 30 hours.
Even if I were to maximize my buffs and increase my speed to 200%, it would still take nearly 15 hours!
Do we really have 15 hours left?
Archibald fell silent, and upon hearing the news, Cecilia and Isabella also didn't know what to say for a moment.
"But no matter what, this is a lifeline for us," Isabella said calmly.
She was very clear in her heart that this was their only chance of survival.
If they didn't seize this opportunity, they would likely face certain death.
"We have to try, no matter how difficult! We will leave the most basic energy stones here, and give the rest to you!"
"I can't go," John immediately rejected the idea.
"Today's events have already drawn their attention to me. Once I leave, he will definitely notice something is wrong immediately, so I must stay here to distract him."
Isabella and Cecilia were stunned, then upon reflection, realized it was indeed so.
This time, Alastair was clearly targeting John, and his absence would definitely cause a significant stir.
If they couldn't activate the formation and also wasted so much time on the road, they simply wouldn't withstand a strike from a semigod-tier being!
"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!