Inspection

Maeve was an ordinary member of the Transmutation School. Starting from a commoner, she worked hard and eventually became a Formal Mage.

However, life isn't easy for Formal Mage either. Finding a good job is harder than climbing to heaven, let alone getting promoted.

Maeve currently has no intention of advancing in her career. She plans to prepare corpses for the School, hoping to gain entry into a core society within the School through this hard work and thus secure a promotion opportunity.

Count Ian approached her shortly after she arrived, asking her to prepare for the upcoming Knight's Duel, offering a generous reward.

Maeve readily agreed; such opportunities to earn extra money were extremely rare, and she wouldn't let them pass up.

However, after seeing the list of prohibited items, she was very puzzled as to why Count Ian was still looking for her.

The scope of prohibited items listed above is extremely narrow, covering only very niche and dangerous items.

Weapons and equipment made from Demon materials, power-boosting potions that damage the body, and prohibited types of toxins.

Each of these items is extremely rare; you might not be able to find them even if you went to the market in Gede Town.

When the day came for the equipment inspection, Maeve finally realized why these contraband items had been specifically listed.

She looked at a dagger coated with the deadly poison of the Dusk Flower; once this stuff touched a living being, that creature was practically doomed.

One of the knight's followers was actually wearing armor made of Demon materials. How did they get that?

Although Demon materials are not expensive, mages dislike their instability, which keeps their price low.

She was very puzzled as to how the other party had obtained it, given that the Abyss was so far away, but she didn't press the matter further.

The knight had given her follower a bunch of enhancement potions, but when she asked him his name, he couldn't answer clearly.

Even when she asked them to turn around, they didn't react at all; they only charged forward when given the order to attack.

This approach clearly violated the regulations regarding contraband, so she naturally rejected it outright.

It's just that it's not clearly marked on some papers, so it's something that's borderline and hard for her to define, like right now.

She looked at the elite-model cyborg in front of her, whose body was covered in enhancement potions and had undergone special treatment by the mage who had modified him.

These modified humans still possess a certain level of intelligence; they can understand her words and follow her instructions to perform some simple actions. However, their mouths are sewn shut, preventing them from speaking.

"Well, Your Excellency Mage, how are my cyborgs?" Cliff asked confidently.

Before making these preparations, he specifically paid Count Ian to inquire about the scope of this prohibition, and in a flash of inspiration, he specially sought out these modified humans.

"Hmm--" Maeve pondered for a long time, then finally waved her hand. "Alright, you've passed."

There was no way around it; this cyborg had just found a loophole. The extra checklist she posted included checking the intelligence of her followers to prevent them from being given too many enhancement potions.

However, these specially modified humans seemed to have just crossed the line, so she had no choice but to let them pass.

"Next."

The next knight to conduct the inspection was Knight Eric, and every movement of his men caused the ground to tremble twice.

As Eric stepped into the small examination cubicle, his foot slammed down the threshold, leaving shards scattered on the floor.

Maeve frowned and carefully examined Knight Eric ' group.

This team didn't do anything illegal, not even borderline activities, but...

Eric's team was armed to the teeth. The horse he brought was covered in iron armor and, because it had been given a strengthening drug, it was very agitated and would stomp heavily on the ground from time to time.

His two attendants were completely encased in iron armor, with a poisoned crossbow hanging at their waists and a flammable projectile that could be thrown.

As for Knight Eric himself, his entire body was made of a special metal, something that others couldn't even afford to use to forge weapons, yet Knight Eric used it to create a full suit of armor.

"This thing is probably worth fifty or sixty silver coins," Maeve guessed.

Eric noticed Maeve's gaze and explained:

"This is a powerful suit of armor that my family saved up over three generations to acquire."

Maeve couldn't say anything about this explanation, since it was in accordance with the rules; she could only wish the other knights good luck.

"Next."

Finally, it was Finley's turn. Finley's expression changed from initial tension to astonishment, and now he seemed somewhat disappointed, feeling that he definitely couldn't win.

Heaven knows why these people have so many good things on them, and almost everyone has them. Now his team is practically dirt poor.

Maeve was also very curious about this team. Other teams were all fancy and elaborate, so why was this team so simple?

The only valuable thing she noticed was Finley's light armor, which appeared to be made from some powerful Magic Creature material and looked extremely sturdy.

The battle axe in his hand was made of ordinary refined iron, but it had two runes on it. The Enchanter enchanted the weapon was very skilled, which made the weapon hold a much higher place in Maeve's heart.

With equipment like this, she'd probably be destined to be at the bottom in a duel, Maeve thought to herself.

Finley suddenly turned around and said to Fran behind him:

"Hey buddy, why don't you put your Black Horse away properly? We don't stand a chance of winning this kind of battle, and it wouldn't be good if your Black Horse got hurt."

"No need, my Black Horse also needs a battle like this to hone its skills," Fran said with a smile, refusing him.

Maeve hadn't really cared about what kind of Fran was riding, but she was completely stunned when she saw the Black Horse.

This is a Black Horse that has undergone multiple modifications; it bears numerous traces of these Transmutation Surgery and was made using a considerable amount of high-end materials.

In Maeve's view, this Black Horse had probably reached the peak of the apprentice Order, and could be considered a pure Magic Creature.

"I asked a mage to do this for me," Fran explained.

"Bringing a Magic Creature into Knight's Duel, isn't that a bit unreasonable?" Maeve thought to herself.

But this wasn't listed as a prohibited item on the paper, so Maeve had no choice but to let her pass, Maeve thought to herself.