Future plans

After Fran spent three days with the third temporary inspection team, the team resumed its work. About a dozen Formal Mage joined, all of whom could be considered Fran's subordinates.

These subordinates are quite different from those in the Territory Mage Working Group before. Back then, the working group selected only the elite of the elite, and those elites had to fight tooth and nail to get in.

Most of the mages who entered the Third Temporary Inspection Group this time were just mediocre nobody like Bela.

It's not fair to call them all rotten fish and shrimp; there are at least quite a few mages here with great potential, but it's very difficult to unleash their potential.

These mages were either promoted from the Reserve Force like Bela, or they were temporarily recruited, or they were squeezed out by other departments.

People from other departments who came here were either troublemakers or troublemakers; in comparison, Bela and the other young mages were relatively easier to deal with.

There's no way around it; Fran is leading a Temporary Inspection Office. After this period, or even a month later, it's questionable whether this Temporary Inspection Office will still exist.

This was a temporary organization that brought in people just in time to quickly check the stockpiled goods before the war started.

Fran had anticipated this, since she had volunteered to come here as a stepping stone to her next position.

A mage with her qualifications would almost always end up in the Logistics Department within Battle Mage Corps.

However, there were also differences in the Logistics Department. Some Logistics Department Logistics Department had to go to places closer to the front line, while others remained in White Dragon Port after the war started.

Fran's target is Wartime Supply Department, a department specifically for providing resources to mages on the Battlefield, and this department will definitely be located around the Lohan Archipelago.

Furthermore, due to the nature of combat, this department is mostly useless and is only used for emergency preparations. There is plenty of time available for Fran to do some minor things.

However, it's quite obvious that this department, which allows for such slacking off, isn't just coveted by Fran; other mages have also set their sights on it.

Anyway, by the time Fran wanted to apply, the department was already full, and there was no place for Fran.

Of course, after receiving the Council's order, the Battle Mage Corps will definitely reinforce the Wartime Supply Department.

Fran's place will obviously be available around the time the war begins.

Fran came to this temporary department to gain experience so that she could later claim to have both management and Logistics Department experience.

So that your resume isn't like a blank sheet of paper with nothing on it.

With Harbos's letter of recommendation and her own Amber Law Award as proof, she was very confident of getting her desired position.

Of course, before that, she had to ensure that the Third Temporary Inspection Group she was in completed its tasks on time; otherwise, others could still use poor management as an excuse to remove her from the team.

"What year are these Fire Bomb from? Why aren't they labeled? Where did they come from in the warehouse?"

Although the Battle Mage Corps had applied to the Elemental School for the raw materials to make these Fire Bomb, they were clearly unaware that there were still some unmarked finished products in the warehouse.

"Huh? Why is this box empty? Wasn't it supposed to contain second-tier material White Jade Crystal? Where did they go?"

There's also confusion about whether it was taken by someone or simply a mislabeling.

"My God! There's a Fire Bomb inside the box of Red Flame Fruit. Luckily, I didn't put anything on top of it. That thing could explode if you even touched it."

Fortunately, Fran had worried about the Fire Bomb exploding before she even started the inspection. Better safe than sorry, she needed to make sure these things really wouldn't cause any problems, otherwise her plan to get to the Wartime Supply Department would be shattered.

To prevent an explosion, Fran even made full use of her characteristics as a Third Order Professional.

"Phantom-Expelling Element." She used a combined Secret Words, releasing it once each day when the group members began their work to ensure no accidents occurred.

"Fran, this batch of goods has been inspected and we are repackaging them," Bela said to Fran after checking off a form.

To be honest, it's quite surprising that I could meet the friends I made in the City of Apprentices here with the Battle Mage Corps.

But what was even more surprising was that this friend of his was actually a leader here.

This was the first time Bela had experienced the joy of having a leader who was also her friend. She no longer had to toil away sorting through Small Magic Device, unsure when an explosion might occur; all she had to do was count and check that everything was in order.

"Check again, don't let these mages have a chance to take these things away," Fran continued to emphasize.

This is a possibility, and such an inspection must be performed by Formal Mage, because these boxes need to be opened using Mental Power in a specific manner to prevent accidental activation.

Inspecting these magical devices requires the expertise of Formal Mage; apprentices are not qualified. Therefore, only Formal Mage can be sent over.

Although these mages were sent by the Battle Mage Corps, it doesn't mean they wouldn't use some tricks to get their hands on the items.

These Small Magic Device are really expensive; the cost of each one starts at over ten Gold Coin. Formal Mage could easily sell a few of them for the equivalent of most mages' annual salary.

Even though the underground Black Market in Crescent Bay is now under control, these mages can't sell the items even if they get them. However, they can't avoid hiding the items for ten or twenty years, and they can still make a profit when they finally sell them.

Just like the employees in the Gold Factory, the members of Fran's group are all like this. The value of the things they handle is far greater than their income, so it's hard to guarantee that no one will have malicious intentions.

Although there were instances of collusion between members of other temporary inspection teams, Fran would absolutely not tolerate it.

She has plenty of Gold Coin in the Spirit Realm, why would she covet this little thing? What she needs now is to be able to enter the Wartime Supply Department without any leverage over her.

She couldn't accept being cheated out of such a small amount of money. So, every morning when the monks weren't working, she would check all the goods to make sure there were no omissions or mistakes.

She strictly follows the rules and regulations, and as long as she doesn't overstep the bounds, she'll definitely be able to get a position in the Wartime Supply Department.

"Clap... clap!" Fran clapped her hands, then gestured for all the members to come over.

"Attention, our task for today is complete. Keep a close eye on your goods; make sure they are placed inside before sealing the boxes. Don't wait until we've all reported the boxes before you discover any omissions..."

"The resources will be the same again tomorrow... Alright, let's dismiss."

At 2 p. m., while other Temporary Inspection Office were still busy, Fran had already finished her day's work and let her team leave.

Even after the work was completed, she didn't intend to let the team members continue working, because doing more would increase the chances of something going wrong, while doing less wouldn't have any impact, since she had already completed the task assigned to her.

"Huh? Why did you leave at only two o'clock today?"

Her team members were still in shock; it had only been half an hour since their lunch break, and their work was already over?!

Fran set up a very tight workflow for the team members, with each person strictly following the assembly line approach and only doing a part of the work, which greatly improved efficiency.

This made the work extremely efficient, but it also left the team members with almost no opportunity to actually do anything. When the time was up, they could only stare blankly at the closed door.

"Was it this early yesterday too? Is that okay?" Bela asked with some concern.

"It's alright. You'll be more skilled by tomorrow, and you should be able to get everything done by morning. It'll be even faster tomorrow. We just need to complete the task."

Fran blinked, closed the door, and responded to Bela.

"Alright then... Are you free tonight, Fran? We can go..."

Bela had originally planned to strengthen her relationship with Fran and wanted to have dinner with Fran, but Fran refused without even thinking about it.

"No need, I have experiments to do tonight..."

Seeing Fran leave in a hurry, Bela had no choice but to give up.

"No wonder Fran became the group leader, she's so diligent! She's still conducting experiments at this time. But she only became Formal Mage two years before us, what kind of experiments could she possibly be doing?"

"Maybe it was her advisor who gave her advice? Sigh, why don't I have such a good advisor?"

One might even wonder if Fran's mentor played a part in her securing this position.

Fran was talking about conducting experiments, then she was absolutely right; she went straight back to White Dragon Port.

Through her relationship with Eleanor, she could obtain a good laboratory in the city without paying.

Fran rushed into the laboratory. On the table was a spherical glass dome containing several white mice and some ordinary flowers and plants.

Outside the glass enclosure were some thin pipes and glowing light panels, which were life support facilities specially built by Fran to maintain the activity inside.

She didn't build these to replicate experiments involving oxygen, carbon dioxide, or photosynthesis; it was simply a magic experiment.

She walked to the glass case and, as she had done in the past few days, continued to recite the Secret Words in her mind.

"Time flies by." She placed her target inside the glass dome to define the target's location, and her Mental Power was instantly reduced by half.

The mice inside seemed to be on fast-forward, and even the subtle movements of the surrounding plants became visible to the naked eye.

However, the life support facilities did not accelerate, so Fran could see the plants begin to wilt and the mice struggling desperately.

Finally, Fran simply moved the glass dome to another location with her hand, leaving the time she had accelerated still in place.

The mouse then stopped struggling. Although the plant didn't move much, it could be seen that it tilted slightly upwards.

"The location of time's effect does not move." Fran made a special note of this, which was different from the effects of other Secret Words. Other Secret Words would move with the target, but time could not.

"The experimental data is almost all collected. Although we're still a ways off from obtaining the Time Traveler Profession, I can currently think of a cone-shaped spell."

[Localized Time Acceleration], Fran has already constructed it into a somewhat imperfect Third-Order Spell, which can be enhanced with Alchemy Device.

"This is paving the way for the future. Oinrich probably developed similar spells, but he must have had some considerations, so he didn't give them to me."

"It can pave the way for me to obtain the Time Traveler title in the future, and also..."

"Perhaps when ' Lai ' returns to the Alliance, he can use this spell to get some help from Oinrich."

Now that ' Lai ' has returned to the Alliance, he will almost certainly be investigated by the Investigator, and may even be imprisoned for several years. This is something Fran could not have foreseen due to the Number Three Floating City Incident.

However, she now has a way to get ' Lai ' out sooner.