With humans and demons researching hard under the same leadership to find a solution, progress was naturally rapid. In just over a year, there were already initial results.
Quite unexpectedly, the demons were the first to develop a magical formation that could prevent the bloodline of deceased demons and presumably magicians, who also have a bit of demonic bloodline, from returning to the world's circulation.
Unfortunately, the demons' initial product could only preserve it for a few days and had other flaws, such as horrifying energy consumption, burning through millions of magic crystals for just one day of operation.
Human scientists were also working hard. They developed a new magic battery that could preserve a high concentration of demonic bloodline for up to 10 years without breaking. This rapid advancement by both humans and demons was facilitated by the information and data Mike exchanged between the two groups. He copied many valuable books and data points from human libraries and shared them with the demons. Although demons have fewer books in general, they still possessed valuable texts that Mike copied and shared with human researchers and scientists. One of the essential factors of technological advancement is information sharing.
The two sides poured all their efforts into improving the technology further.
Two years after starting the research, the demons' progress had advanced by leaps and bounds, astonishing Mike. Previously weak in research and development, the demons were now making daily improvements. They had been disunited, but now, working together, they were showing their full potential. Additionally, Moondemon, who can observe the world's luck to some extent, provided significant help by guiding them in the right direction.
Demons improved their formation's efficiency. As long as demons die within it, their bloodline will be sealed, with less than 5% leakage expected over ten years. Although this was a significant advancement, it was not enough. It meant that more than 5% of the bloodline would leak out into the world's circulation after ten years. Another issue was energy consumption, which not only didn't improve but actually worsened.
Thinking of a way to solve the issue, Mike took the battery crystal developed by humans and brought it to the demon researchers. The latest human battery could hold 85% bloodline concentration for 12 years without even cracking.
"Quite a simple issue to solve!" Mike thought to himself. He didn't consider himself a genius but thought of a solution that anyone could devise.
The formation mechanism developed by demons was quite different from the battery developed by humans. The battery keeps the bloodline within its small body. This is very useful because the battery crystal can also be used as a source of energy, with a far higher energy output than the current magical batteries on the market. Of course, Mike had no plans to use it for that purpose; in any case, the cost of creating the new batteries was too high for general use.
The formation developed by demons could keep the bloodline from leaving the space it covers. These two technologies complemented each other. One would first have to build a large warehouse and establish the formation around it. Then, a demon close to death from old age should be moved to the warehouse. After death, their bloodline should be stored in the batteries. The batteries should then be kept in the warehouse; any bloodline leaking out of the batteries would still be trapped by the formation.
To complete the process, a method is needed to collect the bloodline from the air inside the warehouse and compress it to create additional batteries. Once completed, it can be automated, with everything powered by magic crystals.
A person with only a basic understanding might assume that magic crystals contain true demonic bloodlines. However, this is not the case. Even though the formation uses magic crystals as fuel, it does not release any demonic bloodline back into circulation.
The bloodline stored in magic crystals is illusory; even if used as a power source, it wouldn't return any bloodline to circulation. The world has hundreds of billions of magic crystals, each filled with bloodline power. After all, magic crystals are failed demonic fetuses, the best objects for keeping a demonic bloodline over long periods. Reproducing true magic crystals has been impossible, and Mike wouldn't attempt it; they aren't useful for the current situation.
The bloodline in magic crystals is an illusion; it has energy but isn't real.
All demonic bloodlines worldwide are complete; their total value in circulation should be no more or less than 100%, not counting anomalies like Mike.
Demonic bloodlines circulate in the world after a demon's death; sometimes, they penetrate certain types of crystals, become trapped, and form a demonic fetus. Once inside, these bloodlines start releasing energy into the crystal. A demon will be born if the total amount of bloodline in that crystal reaches a certain point. The demon's power depends on its luck; if the bloodline that penetrated the crystal were from the same type, it would become a demon king. If it were from many different types, it would become a muddled demon.
However, if the total bloodline doesn't reach that critical point within a set amount of time, the demonic bloodlines start to leave the crystal. At this point, the fetus fails and has no chance of being born because the energy stored in it changes its structure, preventing it from trapping any bloodline again. This is why magic crystals turn into powder after use and are not refillable. The energy that the demonic bloodline leaves in the crystal is what is consumed; the bloodline itself left long ago.
Knowing the direction to travel, Mike directed both sides to research technology for compressing demonic bloodlines from the air. Human civilization already has a large formation capable of extracting demonic bloodlines from the air and temporarily storing them in empty crystals, effectively creating artificial magic crystals. However, this technology was not directly applicable to the current situation.
Current technology works straightforwardly; it traps some demonic bloodlines in circulation and temporarily stores them in crystals until they energize the crystal. But there are many flaws. First, the formation can, at best, fill a crystal to 10% capacity, creating only a very weak crystal. Second, it is designed to work with very low concentrations of bloodline in the outside world, not high concentrations in the warehouse. One might think that a higher concentration would make compression easier, but these technologies are delicate. Who knows what would happen if Mike allowed it to compress bloodlines into crystals at such high concentrations?
The third flaw is that artificial crystals can contain illusory bloodlines for ten years but may fail when tasked with containing real demonic bloodlines. Simply put, they are not designed to store energy long-term.
Despite this, even though current human technology was designed for different purposes, it was still far better than starting from scratch. Mike took data about the formation and handed it to demon researchers. The demonic researchers showed great talent; perhaps the clash of two cultures would spark something exciting.
Mike already had plans for the future. After completing this step, he planned to find a way to extract the demonic bloodline from the open air, seal it, and trap it, not only to starve the big demon but also to cut off its flesh. The technology was mostly there, and with the help of humans and demons—essentially the entire world's power—it should not be difficult to achieve.
Three years passed quickly. By then, Mike had gained absolute power in human civilization. The military leadership commission, the president, and the prime minister were all under his control. Using this influence, and with the help of the demons, he made significant progress.
Today, both demons and humans who are nearing death are brought to the storage facility. There, they spend their final moments, and their bloodlines are collected by the formation after they pass away. These bloodlines are stored in magic batteries, which are kept in the depths of the storage facility surrounded by three layers of protective formations. Any leakage from the batteries is collected and compressed.
The technology was complex to develop but not as challenging as Mike had expected. Initially, Mike felt strange that such technology wasn't invented sooner, but after some thought, he realized why. The reason is the cost. Simply put, Mike is not making any money doing this and is losing over ten million magic crystals every day of operation. It is a money pit that has already drained human civilization's savings, forcing him to draw from the rich demon kings' treasury.
These many layers of formations and compressors—unlike the ones humans have—forcefully compress the batteries to 90% and seal them, a much more energy-intensive task.
The demon kings are wealthy, and Mike has already ordered the humans to build another artificial magic crystal factory. He balanced the budget with some adjustments and cuts, such as shutting off most of the Great Wall's operations.
Now, the deaths of demons and magicians no longer feed the big demons.