The efficiency of energy procurement can be likened to that of oil.
The global daily output of oil is calculated in tens of thousands of barrels, with the oil daily production of Saudi Arabia alone being around ten million barrels. As of March 2022, the global oil daily production stands at about one hundred million barrels. Though it's currently 1989 and the production doesn't reach such a high level, it's certainly still substantial.
As we've mentioned before, the size of a Dark Owl is similar to an actual owl. And though one may think having around a hundred thousand owls sounds like a lot. But if you were to clump them all together, they wouldn't even amount to a minute's worth of global daily oil production. How could that efficiency be acceptable?
So, Shiller began organizing everyone to further increase their productivity, mainly by compressing time costs and complete automation.
In terms of reducing time cost, it's challenging for the children to focus for extended periods. If they don't want to sing and just fudge the pronunciation, they can't summon the owls.
Moreover, it's difficult to ensure that all the children attend on time, as some might have family matters to attend to or fall sick. Since the primary goal of this endeavor is to protect the children, exploiting them by squeezing their time is not an option.
This is the drawback of using human employees. Therefore, all hopes were pinned on mechanization. If robots can replace humans, as long as there's sufficient energy, they can operate continuously without issues like absenteeism or poor performance.
With regard to this, Constantine was nearly driven insane by Shiller. He exclaimed, "Do you want robots to use magic??? Do you even hear yourself?!"
"They don't even have souls! Even if they could emit those syllables through a recording device, they won't be able to attract owls!"
"That's why we need you." Shiller, looking into Constantine's eyes, said, "Your task now is to create an indefatigable being that can fool the owls."
Hal looked at Constantine with some sympathy, as he had never seen Constantine looking so weary and distressed.
Usually, Constantine, as lousy as he might be, would at least put an effort into maintaining a good appearance. His British playboy image had its own unique charm that was magnetically appealing.
Though he did exhibit signs of craziness and decay because of his occasional drug binges, it added to his punk allure. And there were still people who fell for it.
But now, Constantine was far from looking like a punk. The only thing distinguishing him from Robinson Crusoe was just a homemade spear.
According to Shiller's plan, the one who was the most worn out was Constantine, who had to place a magical array on hundreds of squares around the school. He hadn't slept for more than a week and looked haggard and exhausted.
If Shiller hadn't promised to give him a tenth of the energy, he wouldn't be bothering with this task. Now, even with that tenth promised to him, he still didn't want to finish it.
Constantine cursed, "You damn capitalist, vampire! You give me a tiny bit of benefit and expect me to work myself to death for you..."
Shiller held up a finger and waved it in front of him, "I'll add another ten percent. You get two tenths all to yourself, and Hal and I only share a tenth. Bruce doesn't even get anything."
Constantine was on the verge of madness. He felt as if a demon named Greed was once again courting him; he could almost see the dark flames burning behind Shiller, driving him mad more than any real demon.
Grinding his teeth, he said, "This is all your doing. Looks like I'll have to talk to an old friend of mine."
Having said that, Constantine left. Shiller didn't know who his old friend was, but he knew some demon was about to have a bad day.
Two days later, an even more haggard Constantine returned, bringing with him a small voodoo doll. He said, "I've contacted all the friends I could. Finally, I found a method."
He placed the voodoo doll in his hand and set it in front of everyone, "This is a type of black magic from Africa, similar to the spells used by Ghost Mom, targeting children."
"In African tribes, they put the souls of deceased children in special voodoo dolls. Specific demons will sense these souls and infuse power into the voodoo dolls in exchange for the souls. The tribal priests can harness this energy to cast spells."
"But where do we get the children's souls?" Hal asked. "Please don't tell me that you plan to..."
"I never intended to; I'm a good man." Constantine sighed.
Bruce glanced at him, seemingly surprised, but Constantine was speaking the truth. Regardless of his actions or intentions, Constantine was essentially a good man, just as unyielding in his principles as Batman.
"I contacted the demon who responds to this type of spell, and he told me that human worshippers are very cunning. With modern medical advancements, infant mortality is decreasing, but the priests still want to use their spells; hence, they found another way."