Chapter 609: The Electric Theft Quartet (Part 1) (Patreon)

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In the last chapter, Bruce turned his head away without looking at Schiller, who was speaking to him. But Schiller, equally disinterested in eye contact, continued, "Well, if you haven't figured it out yet, Bruce, then I suppose these energies will find their own purpose."

Bruce kept his gaze on Schiller, and Schiller returned the look. They stared at each other for a full minute before Schiller broke the silence, "Listen, Bruce, I'm willing to tolerate your dismal performance because you excel in scientific research. If you lose that too, I'll have to talk to your steward about your academic progress..."

Bruce cleared his throat twice and turned away, saying, "Give me a moment. I'll fetch it now."

While waiting for Bruce to retrieve the Ark Reactor core he had developed, Schiller kept himself occupied. The old nun was teaching the children to sing, so Schiller decided to perch on the rooftop and catch some owls.

After singing two songs, Schiller had gathered a decent amount of energy. Although it couldn't compare to the magic energy they had obtained from Marvel, it was easier to acquire and required minimal effort.

Schiller knew that obtaining energy from Knull in Marvel couldn't be directly used by humans. Otherwise, Schiller would have created something like a magic Spider-Man or a magic Hulk. Unfortunately, without a natural affinity for such energy, it couldn't be harnessed, a feat only achievable by sorcerers from Kamar-Taj or Cosmic Gods.

Stark had relied on the Ark Reactor to make magic energy work for him, but wholesale distribution of such reactors was impractical. The cost outweighed the benefits, and superheroes like Spider-Man and the Hulk didn't necessarily need additional energy to enhance themselves.

However, the energy refined and extracted by the Dark Owls seemed tailored to adapt to the frail human physique, perhaps even specifically designed for children...

Even weaker individuals among humans could adapt to this power, and some could even coexist with it. If this energy could be harnessed and made accessible to every ordinary person, the possibilities were immense.

For example, Gotham's logistics industry had faced numerous setbacks due to natural disasters and accidents. However, with the development of a top-notch black science and technology teleportation array for logistics, rain, snow, or disasters would no longer impede the delivery of goods by truck drivers.

As Schiller contemplated this, he realized how practical his thinking had become. Obtaining such energy, and his immediate thought was about developing the logistics industry.

But it made sense. If everyone could easily access portals, what problem couldn't be solved?

In Marvel, this context might have been limited to superheroes, and regular people using portals could be dangerous. But if this kind of energy could be democratized, allowing ordinary humans to use portals, wouldn't it accelerate the progress of Earth's science and technology?

Schiller continued pondering these questions on the rooftop while waiting for Bruce. The more he thought about it, the better the plan seemed, and the less he liked the group of owls below.

Currently, when the children sang, they could attract about twenty or thirty owls, roughly one per person, sometimes even fewer. Singing an entire song took approximately three minutes, meaning about ten owls per minute.

However, these owls were the same size as real owls and didn't contain much energy. Despite their decent speed and quantity, they seemed paltry compared to Schiller's plan.

A characteristic of the human race was its unexplained fascination with scalability, automation, and assembly line operations. There were even games specifically designed to satisfy players' desires to expand production lines and increase efficiency.

In Schiller's view, the current situation of children singing below while he caught owls above resembled primitive hunting and gathering. To enter modernity, they needed standardization, cost reduction, shortened production times, and improved efficiency.

Schiller decided not to stay on the rooftop any longer. He used blink to return to the underground room with the others and began discussing how to enhance the efficiency of collecting energy from the Dark Owls.

After briefly sharing his thoughts, Constantine was astounded by Schiller. He looked at him and said, "Are you saying you want to scale up the extraction of this energy, just like humans drilling for oil?"

"Correct. Look at the advantages of this energy. Apart from being beyond our control, it's a perfect source of power."

"But hold on, this isn't magic at all. We can't... I mean... you need to have some reverence for it; it's not like dealing with oil."

"If he had reverence, the Green Lantern Corps headquarters wouldn't still be facing shortages of Green Lantern energy," Hal scoffed, leaning against the wall.

"Green Lantern energy and this dark energy from the Dark Owls are no different; they are just forms of energy. Forget about any mystical notions; we are pragmatists," Schiller remarked.

Observing Constantine's expression, Hal could very much understand his current state of mind. When Schiller had deceived Green Lantern energy in the past, he had felt the same way.

However, it had to be acknowledged that watching one's once revered magical energy being pumped out like oil, then stored in containers, could effectively eliminate any sense of awe.

The greatest fear of humanity stemmed from the unknown. Yet, when something could be harvested and harnessed by them, that fear ceased to exist, or rather, it transformed into another, more potent force: greed.

And evidently, Constantine was a greedy man.

Anyone claiming that Constantine adhered to the rules and was a law-abiding sorcerer would be met with disbelief by the countless demons he had pit in Hell.

His moral compass was even lower than Hal's, so after a brief moment of condemnation, he eagerly approached Schiller and asked, "What's your plan? You can give me just one-tenth of the extracted energy... no, one percent will do, and I'll give it my all to assist you."

Schiller glanced at him and said, "You said it."

"Don't worry, Constantine keeps his word."

Schiller didn't say anything further but stood in place, closed his eyes, and then said, "Wait a moment, I'll find a specialist."

He paused for a second, and when he opened his eyes, his expression remained unchanged, but a different gleam sparkled in his eyes. He looked up through the spiritual vision, watching the owls circling in the sky as if gazing at a delectable feast.

"First, we need to address the initial problem," Schiller led Constantine and Hal out of the room and onto the surface of the grand church. They stood at the intersection leading to the living quarters and observed the singing children. He continued, "A single song takes too long; it takes three minutes to complete, and sometimes they don't finish it or need to stop midway. On average, it takes five minutes to attract a wave of owls, and this speed won't suffice."

Hal thought for a moment and said, "Wait a minute, when I watched Aisha sing at Wayne Manor, it didn't take this long, right? She only sang three or four lines, maybe?"

"What's the principle behind these nursery rhymes attracting special energy?" Schiller asked Constantine.

"It's hard to say. It might be certain words intricately linked with Mysticism concepts, or it could be the specific melody, or perhaps a combination of words and melody forming a spell," Constantine replied.

Although his answer seemed evasive, Mysticism was precisely like that. There were numerous methods to achieve an outcome, and there were all sorts of bizarre ways.

"No matter, we can experiment," Schiller stepped forward and nodded to Father Daniel. The nun stopped, turned to the children, and said, "Take a break for now. Stay in your places; the restaurant owner will come to prepare lunch for you later."

As soon as the children heard that they would be fed during class, they chattered excitedly, discussing which restaurant owner it might be and what delicious food they could expect.

Schiller, Constantine, and Hal gathered together with Father Daniel and the nun to discuss. Daniel was aware of the owl situation, which is why he supported Schiller's plan. The only way to protect Gotham's children was to root out and eliminate this group.

After hearing that Schiller wanted to experiment with the nursery rhyme's principles, they developed a plan together. After a while, the nun organized the children again and said, "Now, let's split into two groups: one for lyrics and one for melody. The lyrics group will learn the lyrics, and the melody group will start with the melody."

"The lyrics group will further divide into four subgroups, with each person learning three lines. The melody group will do the same, with each person responsible for two sections. Now, listen to me and follow my instructions. Starting from the central line marked by my finger, the lyrics group will be on the left, and the melody group on the right..."

The nun organized the children into different groups and then began instructing them. Each child had their assigned lyrics or melody. After teaching for a while, they began to sing their respective parts.

As expected, after conducting this experiment, certain things became evident. Within such a complex song, not every line of lyrics or melody held any significance; the majority were merely distractions, designed to conceal the genuinely important lyrics and melody.

Among the divided groups, several subgroups immediately attracted owls when they sang their lines, while the others, no matter how many times they sang, received no response.

Constantine stood at the front of the choir, stroking his chin as he said, "I guess human language is just a facade. It might be the pronunciation of the lyrics combined with the rhythm of the melody, forming certain syllables that happen to become a spell. I'm familiar with many summoning spells that work in a similar way..."

"Can you distill all these syllables into something concise? The more concise, the better," Schiller asked.

Constantine took out a notebook, furrowing his brow, and stared at the singing children. Then he began rapidly jotting down notes.

After almost every group had sung their lines once, Constantine laid the notebook flat. Schiller and Hal approached to see only a few concise syllables written on it: "Mu-li-z."

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 610: The Electric Theft Quartet (Part 2)