Mage Demonic Hand is one of the most powerful mages in the military. Despite being retired for four years, she still volunteers regularly and helps the military with various missions.
In the military, leaders are not chosen based on their abilities as mages. There is an S-Grade school in the West that specializes in training leaders for the military. Anyone wanting to be an officer in the military must pass that school. If talented, they would be granted a military rank and appointed as commanders after they pass the school.
This has led to a situation where extremely powerful mages are under the command of relatively weaker military officers. However, this makes sense since being talented in spellcasting does not necessarily translate into being a good leader.
Anyone graduating from any S-Grade school can register with the Leadership School of the West without an entrance exam or extra cost and receive a military rank if they pass. For mages graduating from other schools, the process is more complicated. They must pass an entrance exam and pay out of their own pocket. If the government allowed everyone to apply for free, the leadership school would always be packed. Being a ranking commander in the military is a popular job—who doesn’t like being able to order powerful mages?
Once admitted to the leadership school, one must spend at least two years and, at most, six years and pass six different complicated tests. Some geniuses can pass the tests in the minimum time of two years, while some fail even after six years. Anyone who fails to pass the six tests is expelled and never allowed to rejoin.
Those who pass receive military ranks based on their performance. Those who barely make the cut near the six-year deadline would be granted the rank of lieutenant, while those geniuses who pass in the minimum two years might even be granted the rank of Major from the outset.
To graduate from the S-Grade battle mage school of the capital, one must spend at least 18 years in the school. Nearly all children join at the age of three, meaning one can graduate by the age of 21. Another two years in the leadership school, and it is theoretically possible for one to become a commander in the army by the age of 23. However, in reality, almost no one becomes a commander until 30. This is because one has to spend at least 18 years in school and pass various tests to pass the S-Grade battle mage school of the capital. Nearly no one manages to do this in the minimum time of 18 years; most pass after 24 years. The same is true for leadership schools, where most students pass it after four years; only rare geniuses can pass it in two years.
Therefore, most who pass the S-Grade battle mage school of the capital are older than 27. If they decide to apply to the leadership school and are accepted, they will be over 30 years old by the time they graduate. In this world where people can at most live to 100 years old, 30 years is nearly a third of one's total life. Spending this amount of time on just training may seem insane, but it is actually worth it. Many different pieces of research throughout history have proven it.
Mages graduating from the S-Grade battle mage school of the capital spend at least 18 and at most 32 years on training. They will be extremely skilled once they graduate. Their mortality rate after becoming soldiers is very low as they are careful and can cast a variety of spells, including many lifesaving spells. They are disciplined and knowledgeable about demonic bloodlines, how to counter them, how to defeat them, what to avoid, etc. Those graduating from this school are elites who form the backbone of the military.
Of course, other mage schools are different. For example, A-Grade schools require a minimum of 11 years of compulsory education at first, and three extra years after the age of 20, for a total of 14 years. The reason for this is that one's bloodline matures only after the age of 20; to master high-grade spells, one must be taught after one's bloodline matures. Other mage schools require a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 years of education, which means students who graduate from them are far worse taught than S-grade school graduates.
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There are two types of schools: schools of necessity and specialized schools. E, D, C, B, and A schools, along with the S-Grade school of the capital and the S-Grade school of the east, are all schools of necessity. Anyone who intends to become a magician must first pass one of these schools. After passing, they are formally considered a magician.
The second type is specialized schools. There are only three in the whole human civilization: the S-Grade school of the north, where any mage interested in theoretical magic and magical research can apply; the S-Grade school of the west, which is solely responsible for granting military ranks; and the S-Grade school of the south, where those interested in specializing in fields such as blessing magic, fire magic, curse magic, formation magic, etc., can apply.
To apply to specialized schools, one must first pass a school of necessity.
Those who pass their school are offered a job at that school. For example, the research school of the north usually hires its best students as teachers and researchers. The S-Grade school of the south hires those talented in weapon building for its weapon-making facility. Those who aren’t offered a job at the school itself can join the military if they meet the conditions.
Those who can't join the military are usually offered jobs at various government departments and may be hired as agents for a police department to investigate civilian crimes; in all, anyone who passes school and becomes a magician can find a job without any difficulty.
Those who pass leadership schools are always assigned as commanders. The leadership school only accepts as many students as there are leadership positions in the military. The government doesn’t like to waste money; it spends many resources to train talented commanders and assigns every one of them to those positions.
The military ranks are simple: the lowest rank is lieutenant, followed by captain, major, one-star general, two-star general, three-star general, and four-star general. There are other lower ranks, such as sergeants, which are granted based on time served in the army, but those lower ranks are more of a show of seniority than anything. Even if one remains in the army for 50 years and achieves the highest sergeant rank, they would still be inferior to a recent graduate from leadership school with the lowest rank of lieutenant.
A one-star general is the leader of one army; two-star generals are leaders of five armies; three-star generals are leaders of 25 armies, while a four-star general is the leader of 50 armies. There are only 100 armies in the whole human civilization and only two four-star generals in the entire military. Each army consists of five majors, 25 captains, and 125 lieutenants. The number of soldiers is not a fixed number, but generally, each army has at least 1,500 people.
1,500 might not sound like a worthy number to call an 'army,' but one must consider that every single one of them is a magician; they must not be compared with ordinary armies.
Each lieutenant is usually the leader of 12 soldiers, each captain is usually the leader of five lieutenants, and each major is the leader of five captains.
Each army is assigned a specific task. There are defensive armies, which guard the Great Wall; exploratory armies, whose main task is to explore the area outside the Great Wall; liberation armies, which are tasked with liberating new territory for human civilization; and the internal army, which helps keep order within the Great Wall.
The power of each soldier varies. There are soldiers who graduated from the S-Grade school of the capital and those who graduated from D-level schools. Of course, it is very rare for someone from a D-Grade school to reach a level to become a soldier. But if one from a D-Grade school reaches that level, it means they have the ability. Everyone who manages to become a soldier has the minimum ability required to at least fight against an ordinary blood-maddened demon. The army won't accept those who are a burden.
The commander is responsible for deciding how to best use each soldier's power and ability. They are trained for this in the leadership school.
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Master Book Scholar and Master Demon Hand both served in an exploratory army; they were friends for a lifetime and shared similar perspectives on most things.
"Happy to finally see you!" said Master Demon Hand as she shook Mike's hand. She was an old woman with pure white hair, yet even though her face had many wrinkles, her demeanor, physical state, and appearance were not like that of an 85-year-old woman. She moved around energetically as if she were 30 years old. A lot of mages are like this; they usually have stronger physiques than most people. Still, like everything else in this world, no matter how good their physique, they die at the age of 100.
"Happy to see you!" Mike responded with a smile.