Chapter 610: The Electric Theft Quartet (Part 2) (Patreon)

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Perhaps due to some mystical connection, whenever faced with an incomprehensible language or incantation like this, Schiller always managed to decipher those three most important words, gaining a substantial amount of energy from them. For instance, he used the phrase "Nataru" to berate Knull.

Schiller recalled that Aisha, not having fully grasped the lyrics, could only repetitively chant the first line of the song. This condensed incantation happened to derive from the end of the first line of lyrics. So, after Aisha sang the first line, Owls would immediately appear.

With this realization, the first step to enhance efficiency had been completed. Schiller instructed Nun to organize all the children, discontinuing the practice of singing the entire song but instead focusing on the first line.

As soon as all the children finished singing the first line, Owls would arrive. Schiller would promptly Blink up to clear the Owls, then continue with the song, singing and clearing consecutively.

However, the first line was still somewhat lengthy, despite its limited lyrics and simple melody. It still couldn't match the speed of those three syllables. Once the children had become familiar with singing the lyrics of the first line, Nun began teaching them the pronunciation of those three syllables.

At this point, many children had lost their patience. When they were singing a whole song, they could skip a line, laze around amidst the crowd, or even chat quietly when others were singing loudly. But when it was reduced to just three syllables, there was no room for slacking off. If they didn't sing earnestly, the discrepancies in their tones would become glaringly obvious.

These children had limited patience to begin with, having already expended a considerable amount during their previous singing lessons. When this task turned into monotonous repetition, many children began to complain.

However, at this moment, the restaurant owner arrived in a truck with delicious food, arranged by Copperpot. The owner of the most popular Italian restaurant in the nearby Living Hell neighborhood, renowned for their specialties, Margherita pizza and creamy spinach, had come.

It wasn't that they couldn't afford a more upscale restaurant. It's just that this group of children, growing up in the lowest echelons of Gotham, preferred high-calorie, heavily spiced food. Most upscale restaurants focused on simplicity and health, preserving the natural flavors of the food, a taste not favored by these children.

While the children enjoyed their meal, the few of them gathered to brainstorm. Although efficiency had improved significantly, there was still room for improvement.

Through their observations over this period, it was apparent that the Owls that came were essentially one-to-one, meaning one child could summon one Owl using the special incantation. Assuming the pronunciation of the incantation was flawless, with over thirty children present, more than thirty Owls could be summoned.

A simple mathematics problem arose: with over thirty children, summoning over thirty Owls, then three hundred children could summon over three hundred Owls, and three thousand children could...

Finally, when Bruce arrived at the Church with the Ark Reactor, Schiller and the others had already left the Church and joined Copperpot at a base belonging to the newsboys.

This was an abandoned cellar located underground in the East District. They had transformed it into a base, where most of the newsboys from various neighborhoods in Metropolis came to exchange information. Gotham still had a significant number of children. Aside from the children in the affluent areas who attended regular schools, the majority of gang members' children found their own work, selling newspapers, flowers, cigarettes, running errands – there was always a job suitable for them.

This place served as a nexus for connecting with most of these children, and enlisting their help was straightforward – just pay them.

Currently, Copperpot had assumed the position of the "Children King," and almost all the peddlers in Gotham followed his orders. When Copperpot mentioned the need for children to sing, the various gang leaders eagerly recommended their own underlings. After all, singing a few songs could earn them a substantial amount of money, which was far better than enduring a day in the scorching sun.

The children here had relatively big hearts. Living in this environment, if they were constantly suspicious and fearful, they would have driven themselves to madness long ago. When the Green Lantern Corps invaded last time, the sight of people emitting green light didn't scare them. Innocently singing songs certainly wouldn't.

The place for harvesting dark energy was no longer the Gotham Cathedral because of its unfavorable location and architectural structure for extracting energy. Instead, they moved it to a professional education school within Living Hell.

This had its advantages. The school was situated in the heart of Living Hell, which resembled a giant steamed bun with the schoolroom serving as the filling. Regardless of the direction from which you approached, you had to pass through the outer layer before reaching the core.

This provided Constantine with the space to work. After studying this portion of energy for a while, he devised a Magic Circle to absorb this energy.

Although Owl monsters flew quickly, a single Magic Circle couldn't intercept all of them. But if one wasn't enough, they could deploy a hundred, and if a hundred weren't enough, they could use a thousand. As long as they could handle the logistics of dealing with them in bulk, it wouldn't be a problem.

The rooms surrounding the professional education school in the center of Living Hell had been cleared, including the underground rooms. Constantine spent about a week placing Magic Circles in all these spaces.

Starting from the schoolroom as the center, they spread out Magic Circles to cover spaces within a radius of about ten units. Green Lantern Hal stood at the center of the schoolroom, using ample Green Lantern energy to create a protective shield, ensuring no Owls could attack the children.

Schiller, after each summoning wave, would collect the energy from each Magic Circle and transmit the information to Hal, who would then relay it to Nun. Nun would then organize the children for the next wave.

Before the next wave arrived, Schiller would deposit this energy into the Ark Reactor that Bruce was studying.

Speaking of which, it was worth mentioning that Bruce's Ark Reactor was vastly different from Stark's. The Ark Reactor he had developed was about three times the size of a room.

Regarding this matter, Schiller, who was only skilled at changing light bulbs, had some doubts. He asked Bruce, "Why is the final product so large when the model I provided you was so small?"

"I was actually going to ask you..." Bruce looked at Schiller and said, "What was the person who made this model thinking? Why didn't they make it larger?"

Schiller didn't know the answer to this question, but Bruce didn't expect him to, and it seemed that he knew Schiller's expertise was limited to light bulb changes. So, he answered his own question:

"The principle behind this thing is quite remarkable. It uses a new element, and it took some time to crack it. But what perplexes me is that they could have made the power output much greater and added more functions."

"For instance, when you mentioned using it to store energy, I added a module for storing energy. If needed, more output modules could be added, making it a complete energy center."

"Currently, I've already replaced the lighting source in the Batcave with it. After a series of tests, it can potentially replace all the energy sources. In fact, if it's made large enough, it could provide all the energy needed for an entire city."

"And if it's made as a miniature version like this, it might only be able to supply a few robots. Even though the energy supply would still be sufficient, it would be limited by the output power. There's no need for it unless there's a specific need."

"The inventor of this thing installed it in his combat suit."

"Combat suit? You mean like an exoskeleton?"

"Something similar, but more advanced. It can fly and has weapons."

"And then?"

"And then you put it on," Schiller replied, not understanding what Bruce was getting at.

"And what happens after you put it on?" Bruce continued to inquire.

"Um... you go out and become a superhero."

"So, you're saying that he has this kind of energy source, and he uses it to put it in a combat suit, and then... wear the combat suit to fight?" Bruce asked.

"Isn't that what you do?" Schiller retorted. "You have this technology, and you use it to make all sorts of bat gadgets, then wear the gadgets to go fight."

Schiller shook his head and said, "In a way, the two of you are quite similar."

"So, you acknowledge that there's such a person?"

"Enough of that. Just tell me, how much energy can your giant reactor store now?"

Bruce narrowed his eyes again, but he knew that he probably couldn't get an answer from Schiller at this point. Bruce's attention was currently focused on Gotham City, not thinking about anything related to "space."

But as the saying goes, "Forewarned is forearmed." Given the current situation in Gotham, Bruce had his reasons for doing this. Start with the toughest challenge, and everything else would be a cakewalk.

After some thought, Bruce said, "Place your hand here and input the energy you stored earlier. You'll be able to see the percentage of your current storage in relation to the total."

Schiller placed his hand on the designated spot, and Grey Mist began to output the energy. It included the energy obtained from the Church and the energy acquired from subsequent experiments. The progress bar was barely visible, estimating it to be less than one in ten thousand.

Schiller estimated that if it were filled to capacity, it would be no less than the large wave of energy he obtained from Knull. In that case, all the elements needed for the plan's execution would be in place.

As of now, Schiller had created a preliminary machine for extracting and harvesting dark energy. Utilizing numerous extraction Magic Circles, the children capable of attracting dark energy were enveloped within them. Regardless of the direction from which dark energy-bearing Owls approached, the Magic Circles would intercept them.

After intercepting the Owls, Schiller would consume this energy, then descend underground to transfer the energy into the Ark Reactor. Bruce had connected a line to his Batcave to study and analyze this type of energy.

Efficiency had significantly improved after the machine was activated.

There were a total of four batches of children, each batch consisting of 200 individuals, making a total of 800 children. They were divided into four shifts, with each shift working for six hours and having a total of two hours of rest and four hours of singing.

Initially, when they were not proficient in singing, it took about a minute to attract one wave of Owls. Including the prelude before Owls arrived and the time Schiller spent absorbing energy, it took about two minutes.

Within one shift, the children could attract 30 waves of Owls in an hour. Each wave had 200 Owls. Within the four-hour working period, they could harvest approximately 24,000 Owls.

In other words, within 24 hours, after all four shifts ended, they could harvest 96,000 Owls.

It may sound like a lot, but Schiller was still not satisfied with this number.

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 611: The Electric Theft Quartet (Part Two)