Trenches, Guns, and Magic

Albert II naturally knew of Master Röntgen.

The latter was famous among Imperial mages for his previous discovery of "Röntgen rays" (X-rays) and the subsequent development of the "Magitech Tomography Imager" and "Penetrative Imaging Device."

In addition, he had published many academic papers on the specific heat capacity of gases, electrical conductivity of crystals, the behavior of dielectrics in electric fields... and so on.

Of course, Albert II didn't understand the content of those papers at all; he couldn't even understand the technical terms in their titles.

But he knew these papers were highly impressive... and that was enough.

Therefore, Albert II immediately accepted Director Planck's recommendation and told him to return and notify Master Röntgen to depart as soon as possible.

Having received the Emperor's approval, Planck quickly returned to the Imperial Academy of Magitech Research.

However, he also realized a problem. If he wanted to persuade this 70-year-old colleague, talking about "friendship between the two nations" and "Imperial interests" would be of little use; he needed something sufficiently attractive.

Fortunately, Vienna actually had exactly that.

Upon entering the Mage Tower at the center of the Imperial Academy of Magitech Research, Planck walked straight to an independent underground laboratory.

Pushing open the heavy lead door, he saw a room scattered with various blueprints and parts, and dry air carrying a peculiar odor rushed out.

On the table in the center of the lab, an elderly man with graying hair and a thick beard was completely engrossed in calibrating a bizarrely shaped instrument.

The instrument looked like it was cobbled together from brass, crystals, and countless complex lenses, with something resembling a sliding track.

Planck approached Master Röntgen, cleared his throat, and said: "Wilhelm, there's a field mission. You need to take your equipment and make a trip to Vienna..."

Hearing Planck, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen didn't even turn his head, still fiddling with the instrument: "Not going... I'm busy here. Besides, I'm already this old. Find some young people for this kind of field work."

"This time is different. The Austro-Hungarian Emperor is experiencing mental abnormalities. They suspect someone tampered with him, so they requested help from our Empire, wanting a professional to take a look."

"Ah?"

Röntgen finally turned around, pushed the glasses up his nose, wearing a baffled expression.

"Director, have your experiments addled your brain? I'm in magitech engineering and spell theory development, not a doctor!"

"The Austro-Hungarian Emperor's brain is broken; you should find a psychiatrist, or ask the Vatican for a priest to exorcise him. Why look for me? Take a picture of him to see if his bones are brittle?"

"~You hit the nail on the head, it's precisely to take a picture."

Planck clapped his hands together, then walked to a chair nearby, sat down, and said unhurriedly: "That latest 'Magitech Tomography Imager' your team developed, can't it perform a comprehensive scan?"

"That's for looking at bones and foreign objects! The human brain is soft tissue!" Röntgen waved his hand impatiently. "Even if it can see the general structure, I don't have the spare time to run that far."

Planck seemed to have anticipated his refusal. As the Director of the Imperial Academy of Magitech Research, Planck wasn't just highly accomplished academically.

His most important contribution was his ability to accurately handle these eccentric mages in the Academy and unite the Imperial mages of different factions.

This Director of the Imperial Academy of Magitech Research unhurriedly played his trump card: "Actually, I also thought this was a bit demanding and originally didn't plan to recommend you. But... Colonel Morin happens to be in Vienna right now~"

Master Röntgen's hands, which were packing away tools, froze in mid-air. Then, while continuing his work, he replied casually: "Colonel Morin? That Friedrich von Morin?"

"Yes, the Imperial Army officer who was injected with the Gallic 'Sentinel' potion by Master Haber, is still alive and kicking, and possesses physical attributes vastly exceeding ordinary people~"

Realizing the fish had "taken the bait," Planck suppressed a smile and continued: "You know the Academy has always wanted to conduct a scan on this Colonel Morin, but you happened to be in closed-door development at the time..."

While speaking, Planck noticed Master Röntgen didn't seem to be paying attention to him, but had actually sped up the movements of his hands.

Before Planck could stand up from the chair to see what he was doing, he saw Master Röntgen suddenly turn around. On the table behind him were two pieces of equipment, disassembled and boxed up.

"When do we leave?"

Due to the importance of this mission, a special train slowly pulled out of Dresden Central Station the next morning.

Besides Master Röntgen, his pile of precious instruments, and the ordinary apprentices with "magical affinity" helping to carry them, there was also a massive diplomatic delegation accompanying them.

Because in the telegram sent to Dresden, Vienna specifically mentioned hoping to engage in in-depth communication with Dresden to jointly handle the chaotic situation that might arise next.

These words were quite blunt, directly telling Albert II and the others that Vienna had made their choice.

Two days later at Vienna Westbahnhof, Morin, having been notified, waited early on the platform with embassy personnel.

Today's Vienna had returned to peace. Aside from a few traces in the streets and alleys, and patrolling soldiers, it was hard to tell this city had just experienced an armed coup.

The Saxon special train soon pulled into the platform punctually. The train stopped, and the doors opened.

The first to alight were the group of solemn-looking diplomats in suits, led by the Imperial State Secretary for Foreign Affairs himself, demonstrating how seriously Saxony took this opportunity.

Morin exchanged polite pleasantries with them, then let the embassy staff take them away.

Following closely, a sprightly old man wearing a black mage's robe stepped off the train, accompanied by several ordinary apprentices carrying massive boxes on their backs.

"You must be Master Röntgen, right? I am Friedrich von Morin. I will be responsible for your activities in Vienna during this time..."

When Morin received Master Röntgen, he found that although the other party was quite old, he lacked the slowness and dullness of the elderly, appearing quite vigorous and energetic.

The only problem was that the other party seemed very interested in him.

After shaking hands, Röntgen circled around him twice, and continued scrutinizing him and clicking his tongue in marvel on the way out of the station.

Morin always felt the name Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was familiar, like he had heard it in his past life, but he couldn't recall the specific information.

However, considering that the top mages in the Saxon Empire were basically scientists from Morin's previous world, Morin guessed Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was probably also a famous scientist.

The motorcade left the station, traversed the ancient streets of Vienna, and sped toward Hofburg Palace.

The two quickly exchanged information in the car, primarily Morin telling Master Röntgen what he knew about the old Emperor's condition.

The latter didn't act highly resistant to this field mission like he did in Dresden, but very seriously noted down some key information Morin mentioned.

The motorcade soon arrived at Hofburg Palace, and Morin brought Master Röntgen and his party outside the old Emperor's bedchambers.

Just like Morin, when Master Röntgen first saw the tightly drawn curtains and dim lighting of the bedchambers, he started muttering, "If someone could get better in this environment, it'd be a ghost story."

Old Emperor Franz Joseph I's condition remained very poor. Except for a few specific chamberlains, he was full of vigilance toward everyone else and refused to let them approach.

"Master, you see..."

A chamberlain turned to Röntgen beside him, his tone carrying helplessness and awkwardness.

"His Majesty's current state simply cannot cooperate with your examination."

"Conventional methods obviously won't work."

Röntgen curled his lip, mercilessly evaluating the Austro-Hungarian Emperor on the bed.

"I can tell just with my naked eyes that his cranial nerves are currently in a state of high excitement and chaos. Ordinary soothing is completely useless."

Saying that, he snapped his fingers.

The two assistants behind him immediately opened a silver metal case, taking out several small metal gas canisters.

"What is this?" a chamberlain asked warily.

"An inhalable magitech sedative newly developed by the Saxon Empire. Side effects are minimal... takes effect extremely fast."

Are the side effects really minimal?

The thought flashed uncontrollably through Morin's mind, but he didn't say anything. Anyway, he wasn't the one inhaling it.

If this thing worked well, he even wanted to requisition a batch to use in special combat scenarios...

See, this is Morin. Always thinking about either throwing dice (scheming) or combat, anytime, anywhere.

Although the old Emperor's chamberlains were still hesitant, they had no other solution right now.

Seeing no one stop him, Master Röntgen took a gas canister, opened it, and directly used [Prestidigitation] to create a gentle breeze, blowing the gas onto the old Emperor's face.

Before Franz Joseph I could react, that blue mist drilled up his nasal cavity.

In merely two or three minutes, the old Emperor, who had just been hysterical, completely relaxed his tense body, his eyes turning dull.

Like a marionette with its strings cut, he slumped limply against the headboard, still mumbling something incoherently, but devoid of any aggressiveness.

"Alright, don't just stand there. Help him sit up properly in a chair!" Röntgen waved his hand, as if directing a group of porters. "Set up my equipment."

Several chamberlains immediately stepped forward, moving the old Emperor off the bed and sitting him up properly like arranging furniture.

Meanwhile, the two large boxes Röntgen brought were also opened.

The contents made everyone present, including Morin, widen their eyes.

It wasn't a crystal ball or a magic staff, but a pile of precise brass mechanical arms, rune-inscribed lenses, and a massive metal ring.

The assistants deftly assembled these parts. Soon, an apparatus full of a bizarre aesthetic appeared in the center of the bedchamber.

That massive metal ring was adjusted to the position of the old Emperor's head, perfectly enclosing his head in the middle without touching the skin.

"This is the special magitech device you brought?" Morin leaned in curiously.

"Exactly. This is the 'Magitech Tomography Imager'," Röntgen explained casually while adjusting knobs on the instrument. "The principle is actually very simple— utilizing the penetrative nature of a certain ray I discovered to scan the target from different angles."

"However, ordinary irradiation only leaves a flat shadow, which isn't clear enough for things with complex structures..."

Hearing this, Morin instantly realized why this name sounded familiar. Because the other party was the discoverer of "X-rays" in the world before his transmigration, and the recipient of the first Nobel Prize in Physics...

While Morin was astonished, Master Röntgen also pointed to his own head, a proud smile appearing on his face.

"To solve the problem I just mentioned, I abandoned traditional photographic plates. I use this machine to emit rays, then use magitech equipment and imaging crystals to capture the attenuation feedback after these rays penetrate the human body."

"Then, using a method similar to constructing a spell model, I reassemble and model these tens of thousands of feedback signals in my mind, ultimately restoring its internal 3D structure."

Morin was dumbfounded listening to this, so frightened he "directly cried."

Isn't this a human computer?!

In his past life, CT scanners required the powerful computing power of computers to complete image reconstruction.

But in this world, Master Röntgen was actually using his own brain and mental energy instead of a computer to perform the calculations!

What terrifying mental calculation speed and spell construction capability this required...

Then the question arose: why was such a mage only a 5th-tier mage?

Morin couldn't figure out this question. He only felt a buzzing in his head, his worldview suffering a shock once again, feeling an urge to spout nonsense.

Why are Saxon mages Gods? Firstly, there's the Highland Mage Order, which committed the sin of pride...

Hum—

On the other side, as Master Röntgen pressed the start button, the instrument emitted a low hum.

The runes on the inner side of the ring lit up sequentially, emitting a faint green glow.

Röntgen closed his eyes, his hands hovering over the sensor crystals on both sides of the instrument, entering a state of extreme focus.

Morin could clearly feel a massive yet orderly fluctuation of mental energy, centered on Röntgen, connecting to the machine and enveloping the old Emperor's head.

Time ticked by. The bedchamber was so quiet only the hum of the instrument could be heard.

While sensing, Master Röntgen slowly pushed the instrument to move along the slide track, ultimately circling the old Emperor's head several times.

About ten minutes later, Master Röntgen suddenly opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath, fine beads of sweat seeping from his forehead.

"Done."

He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his hands, his expression becoming somewhat serious.

"The situation is more interesting than I imagined."

Without explaining immediately, Master Röntgen made a new request: "Take me to see those dead 'Royal Magic Guards'."

The Austro-Hungarian officer responsible for coordination heard this request and, although full of doubts, complied.

The group went down to the cellar of Hofburg Palace. The cellar, originally used to store perishable food, now relied on its low temperature to store the corpses of the Royal Magic Guards who killed each other on the day of the coup.

Röntgen did not perform a full-body scan on the corpses, nor did he intend to dissect their heads.

He merely used a small, handheld probe, inserted it into the back of the corpses' heads, and observed the color changes of the crystal at the tail end of the probe for a while.

Having done all this, Master Röntgen took only Morin with him to a temporarily cleared conference room inside Hofburg Palace.

After signaling Morin to draw the curtains, Master Röntgen placed a fist-sized, pale blue crystal into a device resembling a slide projector.

With the injection of Master Röntgen's mana, a beam of light was projected onto the wall.

The initially flat light and shadow actually presented a three-dimensional texture in the air.

It was a translucent structural diagram of a human brain, the clarity of which, at least to a layman like Morin, was extremely high.

"Look, Colonel Morin, this is the brain of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor."

"To an amateur, this might just be a mass of white stuff, nothing can be seen."

"But look here..."

As Röntgen rotated the crystal, the projected brain slowly rotated, revealing a certain cross-section deep within the temporal lobe.

"This is the hippocampus, the core area responsible for memory... Please note, under normal circumstances, the 'Magitech Tomography Imager' cannot display this structure; the rays would penetrate right through it..."

Morin narrowed his eyes and saw the edge of that area presenting an unnatural grayish-white.

"And here, at the edge of the cerebral cortex, these are also abnormal hardening points."

Master Röntgen's voice echoed in the dim room. Although he wasn't interested in this field mission before leaving, he was fully in the zone now.

"These are not traces naturally formed by the human body, but traces left after the brain was forcefully intervened with in a short time under the effects of spells."

"Spell effect intervention?"

"Exactly."

Röntgen turned around, pushed up his glasses, and gave Morin a lecture like a teacher.

"In the Saxon Empire, we conducted similar experiments on some death row inmates."

This master stated hair-raising facts in a flat tone: "The late Master Alzheimer recorded in detail that when the human brain is bombarded with high-intensity spells like [Modify Memory], [Mass Suggestion], or [Dominate Person], the brain tissue will undergo specific physical pathological changes."

As he spoke, he pointed to those grayish-white spots on the projection.

"Unnatural enlargement of the temporal horn, hardening of the cortical gray matter edges... these features match the condition in Franz Joseph I's brain perfectly."

"So combining this with the symptoms you described earlier, Colonel, the conclusion is obvious."

Master Röntgen crossed his arms and said with certainty: "This Austro-Hungarian Emperor was, with high probability, subjected to [Modify Memory], forcibly altering his memories of the day of the coup."

"Plus, he is already advanced in years. The successive deaths of his wife, son, and the Imperial Crown Prince over the years had already left his mental state very fragile... So [Modify Memory], while altering his memory, also directly snapped that 'string' in his brain."

After informing the Austro-Hungarian side of this preliminary result, Field Marshal Conrad also quickly brought people to Hofburg Palace to meet with Morin and the others.

Although he had guesses before, when this conclusion was presented so intuitively and scientifically, the impact was still tremendous.

As for those Royal Magic Guards, although they appeared to have killed each other, according to Master Röntgen's detection using that special probe, it was highly likely they were also under the influence of spells.

Unlike the teeth-gnashing Field Marshal Conrad and the others, Morin watched Master Röntgen's demonstration with great interest.

He found that although the overall spellcaster level and spell tiers of the Saxon Empire's mage community weren't high, they possessed quite a lot of various gadgets, big and small... giving him a strong déjà vu of "the bad student has lots of stationery."

But the problem was that this "bad student's" stationery actually allowed them to catch up to the "top student's" level.

On the other side, Master Röntgen unabashedly stated that based on his understanding of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's magical attainments, their own mages were fundamentally incapable of achieving this step. Since the shadow of the Britannians appeared in the coup, it was highly likely an Enchantment school mage from the Highland Mage Order had taken action.

Hearing this, Morin's heart sank violently; all the clues linked together at this moment.

He suddenly recalled the scene when he stormed the palace that day.

While in the hall, relying on his significantly enhanced perceptive abilities post-modification, he indeed sensed something in the palace hall.

After all, if he could frequently run around knifing people with [Greater Invisibility] active, there was no reason a Highland Mage couldn't do the same...

But at that time, he had subconsciously glanced at the system's radar map, which displayed no anomalies other than red dots representing enemies and green dots representing friendly forces.

Looking at it now, this system map, similar to RTS games, could display all enemies "seen" by himself and allied units.

And upon seeing these targets, it could directly complete "hostile, friendly, neutral" identification, but it seemed it couldn't provide "true sight" (reveal invisibility)?

And he, like a pro player in a "blind man's game" (a game with fog of war), might be able to scan the minimap with his naked eyes.

But the problem was, if you wanted others to attack this invisible unit too, you still needed other means to reveal it...

However, because Morin hadn't encountered a similar situation before, he didn't know about this limitation, nor did he have a way to verify it. After all, he couldn't just grab an enemy invisible unit to test on.

Thinking of this, Morin waited until Field Marshal Conrad and the others left, and only he and Master Röntgen remained in the conference room. He told the other party what he felt at the time and guessed that a mage under invisibility was highly likely in the palace then.

However, after hearing Morin's words, Master Röntgen smiled and shook his head.

"Colonel Morin, I know your abilities were vastly enhanced after your body was modified, but this doesn't mean you can just brag casually..."

"No, I'm not bragging, I really felt it!"

"Practice reveals truth. I happen to know the 2nd-tier spell [Invisibility]... I'm also willing to waste a precious spell slot to make you, Colonel Morin, believe that what you felt was actually an illusion~"

Master Röntgen said confidently, then pulled a piece of gum arabic sealing a few eyelashes from his robe. This was exactly the spellcasting material for [Invisibility].

"Do you dare to test it?"

"Let's test it then!"

Morin answered without hesitation. Feeling somewhat impulsive at the moment, he also attempted to use this rare opportunity to run an experiment.

Seeing Morin so resolute, Master Röntgen didn't hesitate further, directly casting [Invisibility] on himself.

The next second, amidst a distortion of light and shadow, Master Röntgen's figure vanished directly into the air.

Morin also became serious, then looked at his system map...

Then couldn't help but mentally slap himself in the face.

Because on the map, a green dot representing a friendly unit was still present.

"Damn it, I'm a moron..."

Realizing he had been a bit muddle-headed, Morin directly closed the mini-map in his vision, then truly tried to capture Master Röntgen's figure relying on his own perception.

Soon, he sensed something moving slowly to his front right.

Although looking with his open eyes there was nothing in the conference room, Morin felt as if he could sense the minute changes caused by air movement, and the obvious footsteps covered by spells.

Simultaneously, Master Röntgen, who had carefully taken steps away from his original spot, suddenly felt a tangible sensation of being "stared at."

He couldn't help quickening his pace to put more distance between them, only to find Morin looking directly at where he was, then slowly raising his hand.

"???"

Master Röntgen instantly froze in place. Just like Morin when he first saw the "human brain computer," he felt his worldview was subjected to a shock.

What does it mean for someone to directly spot a target using [Invisibility] without using [Detect Magic]?

Refusing to believe it, Master Röntgen walked around erratically, continuously adjusting his position.

But to his despair, Morin's finger kept pointing right at him, and the smile on the young colonel's face grew increasingly confident.

Finally, Master Röntgen proactively dropped [Invisibility], feeling that if he kept walking, his mindset regarding magical research might be affected.

"Colonel Morin, how exactly did you do it?"

"I told you, just like in the palace hall back then, I just get a feeling..."

"I feel like you said a whole lot of nothing... Sigh, never mind, wait until you return to Dresden and let the others study you~"

Master Röntgen waved his hand somewhat dejectedly, then had his apprentices bring the "Magitech Tomography Imager" to the conference room, saying to Morin: "Colonel, please take off your clothes, let's do a checkup."

"?"

Meanwhile, Holy Britannia Empire, London.

Inside the Mage Tower of the Highland Mage Order, a middle-aged mage in robes hurried toward the upper levels of the tower.

After having an Evocation school field mage stationed in the North African colonies use a [Teleportation Circle] to send him back to the homeland, "Baron" quickly submitted his operation report to the higher-ups of the Highland Mage Order.

However, to "Baron's" surprise, he was also quickly summoned for an emergency meeting by the higher-ups.

The reason was simple...

The 6th-tier mage Rowan Atkinson, operation codename "Baron"... was the very first Highland Mage to have a close encounter with the "Mage Killer" and make it back alive.