Chapter 3735 Authority Hum! A second and a half later, I felt the lacerating feeling from the runes. For a moment, I thought, they had heated up, and they did, but not for the reason I had thought. These runes are activated, and now they are absorbing the energy. Not from my body and soul, but from the environment. This energy is something I had never sensed before, but this isn't surprising, seeing there are thousands of types of energy out there. I am more interested, in what these runes would do after absorbing these energies. I didn't have to wait for the answer for long. A few seconds later, when these runes became really hot, released energy inside me through a form of wave, which instantly seeped into my cells and particle of my soul forcefully. As it did, the runes on the roots and the thorns blazed and I felt the powerful pull. "Ahhhh!" I screamed the thorns absorbed my life force; it only did it for a second, but I felt immense pain, that I nearly lost concentration on what I was doing with the gem. It would have been terrible if that happened. The shaman would have discovered me and then, I could forget imprinting the gem with my imprint. Destroying all the chances of me getting out of this predicament and becoming a sacrifice for the beast god. The pain had lasted for a second before it disappeared. After a second of break, another wave of energy was released from the runes, and the sharp pain came, absorbing the life force. I wanted to stop the process and I could, but once again, the shaman would discover me. The same thing would happen if I tried to use a different thing for my life force. Those runes would discover it immediately. If it had any other runes, I would have complete confidence to fool them, but these runes have also a hint of forbidden power and thus they might discover my forgery. But not doing anything will cost me my life force and once enough of it is taken; it will damage my foundation. I am not even thinking about foundation when my life will end here. We are the sacrifice for the beast god, they will not let us leave. 'I have to imprint the gem faster,' I said to myself, despite not wanting to take a risk. I expedited it, risking the discovery that could cost me my and everyone's survival. There is no other choice. If I did nothing; I would be weakened enough, that I wouldn't be able to do what I need to do. Thankfully, there is one caveat in all this clusterfuck. They are not absorbing as much life force from me as they are from others. The runes are using more energy and pull on me, than anyone else, but getting half of the life force from me. I pushed all the worries away and focused on the crystals. Minutes passed, and I started to feel the effect of the draining of lifeforce. The weakness had filled me and at every attempt, its effects were getting powerful. Hun! Suddenly, noticed the change in true and looked up and saw dense liquid coming out from one branch and soon, that liquid took a shape and solidified. 'I thought, he was saying the things figuratively, but he was literal,' I thought as I looked at the golden apple with its silvery edge. This fruit had been produced by the life force of thousands of people. It is not the only thing it has; it is also energy being absorbed by the cultist. They also release energies; it is not lifeforce, but something else. A few more minutes passed and some more life force got sucked from me and others, forming another fruit. Every few minutes, a golden fruit is forming on the tree. Till now, seven had formed and more will form as the roots kept sucking the life force. I am close, but it will still take me a few minutes before I can form the imprint. I focused back on it, with every second, making more and more progress. I didn't look at anything else, including the massive data, that my seeds are sending toward me from the Earth Sovereigns and Sky Sovereign. I will have plenty of time to do that after I survive this sacrifice. It was nineteen and half minutes more, before finally, I succeeded and my imprint appeared on the red gem, which I used to imprint my authority on the medallion. Hun! Just as I did that, a shock appeared on the shaman's face and the white and red gem blazed. 'He sensed it,' I thought, but there was no fear in my heart, instead smile. The shaman acted fast and tried to erase my imprint from the red gem, but I pushed back that attempt to its shock. There might be a massive difference in strength between us, but in a tree, our authority is equal. Mine is stronger, and the reason was he. He overrode the command on the tree; and did what is forbidden. The crafters of the tree seemed to have expected that. Another hidden function appeared and gave an extra weight to my authority. "Who is it?" he shouted as he failed to wipe out the imprint after several tries. I could see many opening their eyes in alarm and hope as the shaman looked around, searching for the person, who had just gained the authority beside him. Which he couldn't erase. "Reveal yourself and there will be mercy. If you didn't, then don't blame me for the painful things that will happen later," he warned as looked around the dome. As far as the threats went, it is quite pale. I have heard much, that this. He looked around, and I, of course, didn't respond. I have no wish to reveal myself. If I wanted to do that, I would have screamed earlier. I am glad I didn't, because this bastard would have made all resistance futile, but now there is a chance to survive.