Hagen was eight years old this year, and in two years he would be entitled to attend the 'Westwood School,' a Tier 3 School. Originally, Hagen intended to attend the 'Great Oak School,' a Tier 1 School, but his House of Wolfking was no longer affluent enough to pay the high tuition.
Which was unfortunate because Hagen was a true scholar who yearned to be a Mage but couldn't even afford a reputable mortal school.
Hagen of today has a firm handle on contemporary society.
There were mortals and superhumans in this universe, with "Knight Commanders" being a form of Physical Cultivation and Mages being a type of Spirit and Magic Cultivation.
The Knights had a very clear ranking, and their strength always matched their ranks, and they followed a similar path, but it was always difficult to rank the mages because they knew and followed different paths, the spells they knew were different, and the strength of their spells couldn't be measured seeing as they diverged so much from each other.
Though Mages never tried to become Knight Commanders, the bulk of Knight Commanders may be referred to be Mages because they, too, knew a few offensive and defensive spells, although with the aid of external magical instruments.
There were two options for becoming a mage.
First, if they were born into the top aristocratic families, they had the spirit energy core merged into their bodies from birth.
Second, you could earn it by performing meritorious service to the empire's many guilds as well as the empire itself.
But being a Mage paid significantly more than being a mortal, everyone wanted to be one in order to become wealthy. The demand for the 'Spirit Energy Core' was far greater than the supply.
As a result, commoners and lower-tier nobles were unlikely to obtain it.
However, many people still rushed to finish objectives for the Adventure Guilds, Merchant Guilds, and temples. Credit points were earned by performing missions for these guilds, and these credit points could be traded for a 'Spirit Energy Core.'
A 'Spirit Energy Core,' on the other hand, could practically transform a mortal into a mage at the Lower Peak of Rank F magician. This meant they could now employ spells and magic.
Hagen was really interested in going to the magic school because their poor library had only few inexpensive magical books due to which he could grasp anything other than the communication formation used by the mages.
However, as he was anticipating this, a series of catastrophic events appeared to swallow him one after the other.
He was summoned to the halls, and when he arrived, his grandfather and mother had sorrowful expressions on their faces.
They were reading an imperial letter when they noticed Hagen and handed it to him.
"It's a royal edict," his mother explained.
Because he was the fifth son, he had no claim to his family's aristocratic title; only his elder brother did.
As a result, aristocratic children deemed worthless and undesired were forced by the empire to fight on the frontier for a minimum of 10 years, which was generally extended by another 15 years.
Many noble houses did not object since it would end internal feuds and stabilize the authority of the successor. since they, too, would have the option of exiling or killing the loser of the succession and anyone associated to them in order to put a stop to any future turmoil.
So, unless Hagen took over the land himself or rendered honorable service to the empire, he would have to relocate to the frontiers after two years.