"Hahaha, indeed there are more steps," Gege amusinglyughed, "but not as harsh as this one."


    "Phew," Arthur heaved a sigh of relief as he didn''t know what else he could pay after… his flesh?


    "Ding! Stop wasting time and start," the systemughed and Arthur only bitterly shook his head. "Bring me the old cauldron then," he said and the next moment the cauldron appeared in front of him.


    The next hour he started injuring himself and letting his blood drip over the cauldron. He didn''t stop consuming meat, or taking healing pills while the cauldron was slowly being filled with his blood.


    "Done," once finished he hurried to ask, "what should I do now?"


    "I''ll bring the pirs needed first, hold on," Gege said while the next instant he was taken aback with the massive number of pirs appearing around the tree.


    "This…" he didn''t know what to say while the corner of his eyes twitched.


    "What? It''s needed to activate the tree," Gegeughed, "c''mon, it''s only one thousand pirs, nothing much stingy dragon."


    "Sigh," he paused for a few moments before saying, "alright, what should I do now?"


    "The system will guide you to dig the ground," the golden dragon amusingly said.


    "Dig… what?" Arthur asked, "do you want me to dig what? Why not bring my vigers here then?"


    "First," Gege spoke while controlling herughter, "this must be a top secret. Not too many should be aware of this tree and its location. And second, you need to do it yourself to deepen the bond with the tree."


    "Why not bumping her then?" Arthur bitterly jokes.


    "It might work…" Gege said beforeughing as the face of Arthur showed a strange look, "don''t worry, if she had a human body then yeah you could have done that naughty boy."


    "…"


    He didn''t speak as he nced all around. "What should I use to dig then? Bring me something!"


    "This is another requirement," the golden dragon said, "you need to use something that belongs to you."


    "I… only have weapons!"


    "You have your sword and also that good looking spear. Use them," Gege said while the system added:


    "Ding! You only need to move around and I''ll control your direction. But… don''t move too fast."


    "…"


    Arthur thought and took out his spear. After all he treasured his sword more than this golden one. "Alright, I''m ready," he said while starting to move around.


    Once moved he felt the system controlling his legs and directing his steps. "Ding! Start, you are at the right spot," the system said and Arthur didn''t hesitate to point his spear to the ground.


    And like this he started excavating earth while moving in circles around the pirs.


    It took him one hour to finalize the task. "Now what?" he asked while ncing all around, "damn, I feel like a farmer preparing his ground for seeds."


    "Hahaha, you are really amusing," Gegeughed, "now you only need to wait aside and we''ll do the rest."


    "Finally," he sighed in relief while watching his cauldron moving on its own. The blood inside started to drip over the grooves he made, and in less than half an hour the entire ground around the tree looked like a ground irrigated with his blood.


    "Stand back," the golden dragon said, "it''s time to start the array."


    Arthur flew to the rear while asking, "what should I do? Do you need runes?"


    "No the pirs will do fine," Gege said, "now start hitting them with your arrows to be activated. Don''t stop until I give you the mark."


    "Ding! I''ll control the bow so don''t worry too much about the arrows," the system said.


    "Let''s start," Arthur took his position before releasing his arrows. He felt the system controlling his hands to direct the arrows to their marks.


    As for the pirs, the moment they got hit with arrows they rumbled but they didn''t cause the same effect he used to see.


    "Are they… alright?" he asked, as he felt something was odd.


    "The tree is absorbing the pir''s energy," Gege said, "keep firing at this rate, I believe it will need roughly four hours to six for it to be satisfied."


    But she was wrong, as the tree didn''t stop absorbing the energy of the pirs even after ten hours.


    "This tree… she is really greedy," Arthur bitterly smiled while watching Gege rece the already depleted pirs with another batch.


    "I hope she gets satisfied with this much," Gege said before honestly adding, "I don''t want to make you bleed once again."


    "…"


    Arthur didn''t speak as he prayed this wouldn''t happen. Luckily the tree got satisfied after fifteen hours and after depletion of nearly one tenth of his arrow reserves along with two thousand pirs.


    "Swoosh!"


    The tree started its awakening with this soft sound that was clearly heard by Arthur. "Is she ready?" he hurriedly asked.


    "You can stop now," Gege said before adding, "luckily another batch of pirs and blood isn''t needed."


    Arthur stored away his bow and watched the tree glowing in faint blue color. "What''s going to happen?"


    "Just wait," Gege said, "soon she will act."


    "To do… what?" he asked while watching the lighting off the tree intensified.


    "You''ll see," the golden dragonughed, "this is going to be interesting."


    "…"


    Arthur didn''t know why but he didn''t feel any gooding from such remarks. He watched for ten minutes the tree glowing until a new thing happened.


    "Damn! Let me off the crazy tree!" he shouted in shock as he was taken by surprise… a branch of the tree erupted all of sudden from the ground in front of him and it started to wrap around his body in no time.


    "Don''t struggle," Gegeughed, "it will only cause more pain if you do."


    "What the hell is happening?!" he watched another branch piercing the ground and surrounding him, and then a third one and a fourth until his body waspletely covered by these branches.