Morin's skeleton presented an eerie aesthetic within the blue light and shadow.
"First is the bone density... well, it's already highly abnormal."
Master Röntgen pulled out his wand, holding it like a teaching pointer, and tapped at the blindingly white bones in the projection.
"An ordinary person's skeleton appears grayish-white in the imaging because the bone tissue is a porous, web-like structure. But yours, Colonel Morin... look for yourself. No normal person has bones this bright and white."
Next, Master Röntgen zoomed in on a localized image of Morin's leg bone. The resolution of this magical tomography scan far exceeded Morin's expectations. Even enlarged to such a massive scale, the details remained crystal clear.
"I roughly calculate your cortical bone thickness to be three times that of a normal person. Moreover, the arrangement of the trabeculae has completely changed, forming an even more perfect mechanical support structure."
"Ah... and the joints."
Master Röntgen slowly adjusted the imaging crystal, shifting the projection to the knees and elbows. "The joint surfaces are exceptionally smooth. And look here—these tiny bone protrusions... In a normal person, this would be bone hyperplasia. But in your body, they form additional locking and supporting structures, allowing your joints to withstand massive torque without dislocating."
"Judging solely from your skeletal changes, this body has evolved entirely for combat," Master Röntgen marveled, his eyes filled with a researcher's obsession.
"Honestly, I am incredibly curious about how this modification potion achieved this with such precision. If you return to the homeland later, Colonel Morin, I hope I'll have the chance to scan you again. I can inject you with a special contrast agent then to observe the changes in your internal organs."
The mage kept rambling on. Morin smiled, stating that he would gladly undergo a more detailed examination if the opportunity arose after returning home. After all, only through this concrete method could he truly understand exactly how his body had changed.
Finishing the examination, Morin began putting his white undershirt back on. As he buttoned it up, he casually asked a question that had troubled him for a long time.
"Master Röntgen, I've always felt your spell modeling ability is incredibly strong, and your research into magic is exceptionally deep. Why are you only a 5th-tier mage?"
Looking at this exceptionally talented mage whose raw "paper stats" were somewhat lacking, Morin couldn't help but feel it was a pity.
"The Saxon Empire has many outstanding spellcasters like yourself. But why are Imperial mages generally inferior to the Britannians in spellcasting tiers? Did we take the wrong research direction?"
Master Röntgen froze, clearly not expecting Morin to suddenly pivot to magical sociology.
He fell silent for a moment. The fanatical zeal for new discoveries faded from his face, replaced by a somewhat helpless bitterness.
"In terms of research direction, we do differ from the Britannians. They focus on developing along traditional paths, while we are indeed walking a different road... but that is not the root cause of our inferior paper stats."
"So there's another reason... Could you tell me about it, Master? Of course, if this is classified and shouldn't be shared, just forget I asked," Morin pressed curiously.
"It's certainly not classified. It's a matter of common consensus, just one that few people pay attention to on a daily basis."
Master Röntgen shook his head and walked to the window. Instead of explaining directly, he asked Morin a question in return: "Colonel, have you ever seen a large-scale magitech device?"
"Naturally, I have..."
Morin nodded and answered, "During the battles at the Liège Fortress and the Creil front, I saw those house-sized anti-air magitech devices."
"Excellent. Then my explanation will be much easier."
Röntgen turned around and casually picked up an empty cup from the table.
"Colonel Morin, in your opinion, if you want those magitech devices to release high-tier spells or massively amplify low-tier spell effects, what is the most important requirement besides the precise internal runic circuit design?"
Morin: "A sufficiently massive mana reserve?"
"Exactly right."
Röntgen glanced at Morin in surprise and snapped his fingers, seemingly not expecting him to answer the question so readily.
"Just as old steam engines require radiant crystal ore and internal combustion engines require refined radiant crystal extracts... the more powerful the spell, the more terrifying the amount of mana it needs to draw upon."
"If the energy storage component of a magitech device is designed too small, no matter how exquisite its circuits are, the mana will run dry before the spell even takes shape..."
"This is also why most large-scale magitech devices are generally deployed in fixed areas and connected to a mana hub... Even in a field environment, they will find a way to establish a temporary mana hub to supply power."
Master Röntgen pointed to the empty cup in his hand and continued, "The same principle applies to spellcasters... In a sense, our human bodies are the most precise and complex magitech devices in this world."
With that, Master Röntgen raised his wand. Using the [Prestidigitation] cantrip, he manifested a point of light at the tip of the wand and rapidly drew a crude human outline in the air, then filled it with lines representing mana flow.
This casual display alone impressed Morin. He truly hadn't expected the cantrip could be used this way.
Meanwhile, Master Röntgen began Morin's tutoring session.
"If a spellcaster wants to cast high-tier spells, besides understanding those obscure spell models and constructing complex mental architectures, there is a hard threshold—their body must possess enough mana to activate the spell."
"The mana stored in the human body alone can release high-tier spells?" Morin asked, somewhat puzzled.
In his view, the energy reactions displayed by high-tier spells clearly couldn't be converted entirely from the human body.
"More accurately, it's not 'releasing' the spell, but 'activating' it as I just said... The mana a spellcaster consumes during casting is merely the spark that ignites the fuse, while the spell model is the fuse itself."
Morin suddenly understood. As a late-blooming spellcaster, he really didn't know much about this systematic magical knowledge.
"Returning to our previous topic, the human body is not only the most precise magitech device in the world, but it is also an extremely dense mana storage container."
Master Röntgen used his wand to write a string of formulas next to the human outline that Morin completely couldn't read, then continued: "According to our calculations, the mana storage density within the human body is several times that of raw natural magic crystal ore... This is also why mages are much more flexible than those magitech devices whose cores are magic crystal mines."
At this point, Röntgen's wand paused, and his voice deepened: "But this 'density' is innate... Currently, spellcasters across nations have a relatively unified term for it, calling it the 'Mana Capacity Ratio'."
Master Röntgen used his wand to draw a small circle, labeling it "Saxon Empire."
"In our Saxon Empire, even for those highly talented spellcaster seedlings, the mana storage density in their bodies averages only about 6 times that of a magic crystal ore."
"In other words, an extremely talented Saxon mage, fully charged, has a mana reserve equivalent to 6 magic crystals of their own body volume."
Next, Röntgen drew a circle twice as large on the right, heavily labeling it "Holy Britannia Empire."
"But in that country across the sea... and even including some Gallic mages, their baseline value starts at 12 times."
"???"
Seeing Morin's astonished reaction, Master Röntgen offered a bitter smile and gave an even more despair-inducing number.
"Those core mages of the Highland Mage Order... they can even reach 15 times, or even 20 times."
Morin stared at the two disparately sized circles on the board, his brows furrowed tightly: "Why is there such a massive gap? Have these Britannian mages all been modified as well?"
"You are correct, Colonel Morin... They have indeed all been modified. Even our Saxon Empire's spellcasters have been modified, and we were all modified by the same entity."
"Who?"
"Nature."
Hofburg Palace was clearly not a suitable place for an academic discussion.
Realizing he could glean a wealth of vital information from Master Röntgen, Morin proactively adopted the posture of a humble student seeking guidance, suggesting they move to a more appropriate environment to talk.
Master Röntgen seemed quite happy to "lecture" Morin and readily agreed to the request.
After the apprentices packed up the magitech equipment, Master Röntgen followed Morin back to the instruction unit's temporary camp near Vienna Westbahnhof.
This was arguably one of the few relatively safe places in Vienna where one didn't have to worry about being monitored by people with ulterior motives.
Morin led Master Röntgen into his command tent and called for Kleist, who was standing by outside.
"Kleist, go get some food for Master Röntgen... I remember Field Marshal Conrad sent over quite a lot of Hungarian Tokaji noble rot wine a couple of days ago. Bring a bottle of that here too."
Kleist immediately took the order and left. After he returned with a few regimental officers, deftly set up a folding table and chairs, served plates of sliced sausage and cheese, poured the noble rot wine for both of them, and then left, only the old man and the young man remained in the tent.
"Colonel Morin, I didn't expect your temporary camp to have such fine accommodations~"
Master Röntgen picked up his wine glass, took a sniff, and couldn't help raising an eyebrow in approval of Morin's arrangements.
Morin smiled without saying much. He just raised his glass to clink with the other, then adopted an exceedingly humble posture: "Master Röntgen, could you elaborate on the 'nature's modification' you mentioned back in the palace? Why is this 'nature's modification' divided into different tiers?"
Master Röntgen took a sip of the noble rot wine, which was sweeter than ordinary wine. Without putting on any airs, he said directly: "Colonel Morin, before answering that question, I must test you first."
"Tell me, when a mage releases a [Fireball] and blows the target to pieces, where does the mana constituting that spell ultimately go?"
Morin clearly hadn't expected Master Röntgen to suddenly ask such a question. He thought for a moment and answered: "According to the law of conservation of energy... energy is neither created out of nothing nor destroyed into nothingness. It only converts from one form to another, or transfers from one object to another."
"So... aside from the mana converted into thermal energy, light energy, and shockwaves causing destruction, the rest should still remain in this world, just returning to nature?"
Slap!
Master Röntgen smacked his thigh hard, his eyes wide round, staring at Morin like he was looking at a monster.
"The law of conservation of energy... I truly never expected an army colonel to articulate this theory so fluently."
Master Röntgen was visibly shocked. He thought he would have to waste a lot of breath explaining the concept of "the indestructibility of matter" to Morin, never expecting Morin already knew this theory.
"Since you understand this, things are much simpler."
Master Röntgen stopped keeping him in suspense. He drained the noble rot wine in his glass, smilingly watching Morin pour him another—usually the job of a sommelier—while continuing his explanation. "We all know that magic crystal ore is of extraterrestrial origin, seeds scattered across this planet."
"For centuries, humanity has frantically mined these ores, manufacturing them into various magitech equipment, or directly draining the mana from the stones."
"But this mana didn't disappear..."
Master Röntgen's tone turned serious here.
"Just as you said, it returned to nature... With the Magitech Industrial Revolution sparked by the Britannians and the widespread rollout of magitech, the concentration of free mana in the atmosphere has been rising year by year."
"This is why the spellcasting success rate of young mages today is much higher than it was a century ago—the environment has changed. The air is entirely full of 'fuel'."
Morin nodded. This was very easy to understand.
It was like the greenhouse effect, except what accumulated here wasn't carbon dioxide, but mana.
"But what does this have to do with the Britannians?" Morin pressed. "Is the air over there 'sweeter'?"
"'Sweeter'? That is an abstract description... but it essentially means the same thing... That damn island nation is simply God's illegitimate child."
Master Röntgen's tone carried a heavy sourness, typical of the jealousy of the chronically unlucky looking at God's favorite.
"When the meteorites fell back then, although they were distributed all over the globe, that island... basically landed right in a pile of magic crystal ores."
"More importantly, according to international speculations and the Britannians' own surveys, apart from the land veins, massive deep-sea magic crystal veins—which are fundamentally un-minable with current human technology—lie buried beneath the waters surrounding the British Isles."
Master Röntgen's geographical knowledge was clearly excellent. He dipped his finger in a bit of wine and sketched a rough outline of the British Isles on the table in a few strokes.
"Due to seawater pressure and crustal movement, the underwater veins surrounding that island are perennially in a state of fragmentation and leakage."
"Those highly concentrated liquid mana sources continuously seep into the seawater, evaporate into the air, and ultimately turn the entire British Isles into a natural, high-pressure mana canister."
Morin listened, completely dumbfounded.
So the Britannians basically live next to a nuclear reactor? Oh wait... they live inside a mana reactor?
"Living in that kind of environment, even an ordinary person's mana affinity is forcibly elevated."
Master Röntgen spread his hands, looking helpless but also somewhat envious.
"It's like throwing a piece of iron into a magnetic field. Over time, it becomes magnetized itself."
"Therefore, the probability of spellcasters appearing among Britannian newborns is terrifyingly high."
"And their mages, even without working very hard, just by breathing there... their 'Mana Capacity Ratio' skyrockets."
"This is the so-called 'nature's modification'."
Master Röntgen concluded, his tone filled with the indignation of a gamer complaining that "this garbage game is rigged."
"In contrast, our Saxony... sigh, let's not talk about it..."
Morin leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.
At this moment, many things connected.