A gentle breeze rustled the leaves.
Dago sat cross-legged beneath the God-Prison Blood Tree, bare from the waist up with his robe lowered to his waist, and spoke calmly.
"It's ready."
Bernal nodded without saying anything. He picked up a half-foot-long bone needle from the mobile workbench beside him, dipped it into a ceramic dish filled with an unknown dark red solution, and began engraving Dago's body bit by bit.
The process resembled tattooing. The tip of the bone needle lightly pierced Dago's skin before the special medicinal fluid within the needle was gently injected.
When the entire "tattooing" process was complete, a huge inverted tree pattern appeared across Dago's chest and abdomen.
A layer of sweat had formed all over Bernal's body as well. The seemingly simple procedure had actually been far from easy for him.
Without bothering to wipe away his sweat, Bernal quickly handed Dago something resembling a beetle. "Don't swallow it. Hold it beneath your tongue."
Following his instructions, Dago stuffed the brownish-yellow beetle into his mouth and gently pinned it down with his tongue. He could still feel it struggling beneath his tongue.
By then, Bernal had moved beneath the God-Prison Blood Tree. Holding the same bone needle, he began working on the tree's trunk.
After carrying out roughly the same steps and completing the same pattern, Bernal pulled out a dagger and drove it hard into the God-Prison Blood Tree's trunk. As if in pain, its branches and leaves shuddered with a rustle.
Bernal seized the opportunity to crush a brightly colored green beetle, smearing its remains and juices over the God-Prison Blood Tree's trunk.
"Now."
At his low shout, Dago pressed down with his tongue. The beetle beneath it instantly burst apart, and a fishy sweetness tinged with faint bitterness immediately spread through