Battle School is a whole different way of learning than the Academy.
The Battle school was established by the first Head for people who had excellent talent in MS and could help contribute to The Empire. Most officers and other government officials came from the Battle School. Only a small part came from the Academies.
After graduating from Battle School it was not mandatory that a person has to work for The Empire. They had the independence to do whatever they wanted.
The Capital Battle school is called Dageraad. Its name was given to it by the first Head for being the new dawn for The Empire.
The current Battle Master of the School is the commander in chief. That is the first son of the Griffin Family, Sol Griffin.
The main motto of the Battle School was to learn to work as a team, Obey orders and learn their strengths and weaknesses.
NO new student knew what was the procedure of the Battle School.
Students already passed are forbidden to discuss Battle School methods to people who haven't gone through the process and even then some secrets are only known to their flight.
A student in the Battle School learn subjects compulsorily before choosing to study what they want. The compulsory subjects include Weapons, Tactics, Engineering, Maths, Law, History, Obstacle course, Fitness training, Biology, and Exo-biology.
There are nine levels of proficiency in each subject and the graduating level for subjects depends on the flight you are from.
One can imagine the pressure on a student.
But though the learning was hard on the students The Empire made sure that they could still play and have fun. After all a student entered the school at the age of ten. They made sure that there were play areas for the students to have fun including swimming pool, football grounds, basketball, grass area for simply playing and arcade tours.
But even with all that Maei still liked the Battle School. Yes it will be tough and she will have to work hard but she will have 10 years to complete it.
She didn't want to be just a normal citizen of The empire but be much more. After all her family were one of the great contributors. It didn't make sense for her not to follow suit.
From what she had gathered from her research and eldest brother, in the past few days, was that the Battle School although tough was a place where she would have her best education to get strong but also have friends that would be stay with her for life.
Friends she could trust her life with, friends with whom she could fight beside with. True friends.
So tomorrow she was going to tell her grandfather that she had made her decision. She was going to Battle School.
In the morning when everyone was seated Maei said, "Grandfather I have done my research on both the schools. I have asked the people around me for as much information I could and based on them I have made a decision I will not regret. I want to go to Dageraad Battle School."
Grandfather and papa Owen were not surprised by her decision as Lorcan before leaving had already told them that Maei was researching about it obsessively but still they were proud that she made the decision after thinking everything through and didn't make a impulsive choice.
It didn't matter to them that Maei was a girl and would be learning to fight and battle. The Empire had long since adopted gender equality. In a battle a woman would not be far behind a man if not forward as some were especially talented in it.
While the men were proud the women were worried and sad as that would mean they would not be seeing much of their baby girl through the next 10 years just like Lorcan. They haven't even spent much time with her. They decided that for the two months they would spend more time with her and get to know her better.
Grandfather Alfan was proud, "Ok. I respect your decision. Like you must have noticed unlike the academy where most students are admitted the Battle school is different. From what I know the Battle School will be having its entrance exam in two months. The procedure is that first you will be given a written exam and then three months of trial periods during which you will have to prove yourself. Only then will you be admitted to the School."
Maei was surprised but replied with confidence, "Alright grandfather I will work hard."
Then she begged for their help in studying for the entrance exam making them laugh....