Fixing the food problem (II)

"I will give you the method. I just want a place in the fortress that belongs to me. No one can get near without my permission."

According to military codes, granting civilians a piece of the fortress so they could command who got in and out was out of the question, but General Anglius was more than happy with the trade. 

The fortress was immense, and giving Vlad and the young cat a small place would not only give him access to a tool capable of improving their food supply but would also keep the two powerful experts in the Silent Wind Military Base.

"I can do that. Do you have a place in mind?"

"I just need a place of my own. It must be wide, that is all."

"Oh, in that case, there are large barracks on the east side of the fortress. They have been empty for decades now. You can have them if you want."

"Great."

---

General Anglius' eyes were sharp as he watched the soldiers clean the warehouses. While a simple cleaning task was not something he would usually care about, especially in a time like this, it was important as it regarded their food supply.

The soldiers were working very fast and competently, so it took only a short time before the metallic ground of the warehouses was spotless.

"Good, now stand to the side."

All the soldiers did as they were told. The next second, their eyes went to the young man walking to the center of the warehouse with a metallic stake in his right hand and a small glass flask in his left.

Thanks to his Second Past Life, Vlad had a sea of knowledge in his mind. There were countless methods to cleanse the toxic energy in a species' meat, but many of them required great magic power, which he did not have.

Luckily, he did have his Rune Master knowledge, which he planned to use to tackle the problem with the food.

The young man nodded as he saw the spotless metallic surface. This step was necessary given they were using a non-magical surface, and he could not allow dust or other factors to interfere with the runes.

Vlad's face slid into a complicated smile as he glanced at the metallic stake in his hand. A Rune Master usually had all sorts of unique tools to help his work, but there were no such things in the fortress or his space ring, so he was forced to use a piece of sharp metal. 

Vlad took a deep breath before dipping the metallic stake with the blood he obtained from the abyssal demons before engraving the primary rune. It was a central rune that acted as the heart of the formation, designed to attract and bind chaotic energies.

Since it was the core of the Runic Formation, it was also the most complicated part and required immense focus, as any rune in the wrong place or not correctly engraved would make the entire formation fail.

General Anglius and the rest of the soldiers watched in silence. Although they had no idea what those strange symbols on the ground meant, they could see the focus on the young man's face and did not want to distract him.

It took him nearly an hour, but Vlad smiled as he saw the primary rune engraved on the metallic surface. Although there was a sea of knowledge in his mind, with runes hundreds or even thousands of times more complicated, that was just theoretical knowledge and did not translate into actual skill.

This could be considered his first actual rune, and while it was easier to make on a large surface, it was still an impressive feat. After finishing the primary rune, Vlad sat on the ground and waited for nearly half an hour to relax his mind and recover his Force before continuing.

What came after the primary rune was peripheral runes. They surrounded the primary rune, working in concert to gradually neutralize the chaotic energies, converting them into a benign form. After all, it would be no good if Vlad took the toxic energy of the meat but just spread it across the fortress.

While these peripheral runes occupied a massive amount of space, they were less complicated, so Vlad was able to finish in just an hour. After that, he walked back around the Runic Formation, ensuring everything was in order before nodding with a smile and turning toward General Anglius.

"Place the meat in the core of the Runic Formation. Then, just put your hands into the runes and channel your energy. It will consume the energy on its own and activate its effect, drawing the toxins from the meat, leaving clean food anyone can consume."