"Spider Valley Bottom's Palm Print"
Branches spread overhead like a eggshell, casting broad shadows and scattered shafts of light across Spider Valley Bottom. Without warning, a Lantern appeared, then sent out four figures.
Gelman looked down and confirmed that the Lantern would be ready to use again in four hours. Only then did he reach out and put it away, its faint glow gradually fading.
"Is this the Dark Continent?" Wing had gone through the strange transmission and arrived in a completely unfamiliar place, yet he still found it hard to believe.
"Yes." Gelman nodded.
"Gelman." Biscuit suddenly called out. Everyone could hear the seriousness in her voice, which was unlike her usual self. "Everyone, look at the ground."
Gelman, Shizuku, and Wing all lowered their heads. First they saw fallen leaves and stones embedded in the dirt, then the scorch marks left behind last time, and finally a pronounced depression.
"Hm?" Gelman realized something was wrong. He looked around and saw that the broad area where they were standing sat noticeably lower than the rest of Spider Valley Bottom. "This shape..."
He gathered aura in his legs and leaped toward the canopy overhead. By the time Biscuit, Wing, and Shizuku had shrunk to the size of peanuts, he could finally see what had happened.
So that's what it was.
Thud! Gelman landed steadily back on the ground and brushed the dust from his clothes.
"What happened?" Everyone gathered around, and Biscuit, who had noticed the anomaly first, asked the question.
"We're standing on a palm print." Seeing the other three look puzzled, Gelman tried describing it in a way they would better understand. "Like the palm print left by Chairman Netero's Hundred-Type Guanyin."
Biscuit and Wing understood at once. Shizuku was half a beat slower, but she got Gelman's