Choosing a Position
The Tower of Truth, serving as the political and military center of the Galactic Federation, actually has 1771 floors.
The last time Lister visited, he only lingered on the first two floors, mainly discussing matters of personal identity and affiliation with civilization.
After all, most ordinary life forms only need to go to the Tower of Truth to handle these kinds of matters.
But today is different; we sit inside the tower's teleportation array.
The next moment, Lister had already reached the 1011th floor.
Stepping inside, the office environment felt somewhat cramped, and everyone was wearing the same federal standard military uniform.
The military rank starts at second lieutenant, and the highest rank one can see is captain.
Silently following Captain Boren inside, until they reached the largest private office.
"Please come in!"
After Boren knocked on the door, a familiar female voice came from inside.
As the two entered, Lieutenant Colonel Kali had already risen from her seat.
He walked up to Lister with great solemnity.
"Captain Lister! Hello!"
"Welcome to the headquarters of the Arcane Civilization Army today."
"I am Kali, Lieutenant Colonel and Deputy Chief of the Arcane Civilization Army General Staff Department."
"Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Kali."
"Captain Lister, please don't be so formal, just call me Kali."
From what I recall, Lieutenant Colonel Kali, as Captain Boren's superior, wielded considerable power at the army group headquarters.
They've been anything but polite to Captain Boren, just like today; they haven't greeted or mentioned him at all.
Instead, their attitude towards him was inexplicably... respectful?
This struck Lister as odd, and he subconsciously attributed it to his status as a 'Quasi-Hegemon'!
Captain Boren seemed uncomfortable at this moment and made an excuse to leave first.
"Lieutenant Colonel Kali, I'll head over to the mission office now?"
Lieutenant Colonel Kali remained silent, only giving him a quiet nod.
Only after Captain Boren left did he rush towards Lister with even greater enthusiasm.
"How about I show you around the headquarters first?"
"Kali... Lieutenant Colonel? Perhaps we should discuss military merits first?"
Lister still felt awkward without using the other party's military rank.
As for the headquarters of the Light Arcane Civilization Army, although he was interested, he was more concerned about his own military achievements and promotion.
The recruitment mission is complete; the real rewards are just beginning.
"Okay!"
"These are the military merits awarded for the conscription mission. Please confirm them."
I took the confidential soft screen, which displayed the official allocation plan for this military merit.
The total conscription mission required 1.09 million military merit points, which is the sum of all officers and enlisted personnel on board.
Among them, Lister personally received 84,000 points for the coordinate attack mission, and 65,000 points for the decisive battle mission, which were uniformly allocated by the Federation Military District, with 33,392 points for killing enemies.
A total of 182,392 points, more than what Captain Boren allocated.
Are you satisfied with this?
"If you have any objections, I can help you appeal to your superiors regarding the task allocation for the attack points at the coordinates; we can try to get a higher percentage."
Lieutenant Colonel Kali said earnestly, her eyes carefully scrutinizing Lister.
Since the latter two items are directly determined by the Federation Military District, the first military merit can be distributed evenly across the entire ship.
"Satisfied, no problem."
Captain Boren's allocation for offensive missions was only 87,000 points, not much more than his, Lister had no intention of arguing over such a small amount.
He silently looked at Lieutenant Colonel Kali, waiting for her to continue.
"Oh! Regarding your promotion to major, the promotion ceremony will be held tomorrow."
"However, regarding your position, our military headquarters needs to reconfirm with you."
"Beep beep~!"
As they were talking, the unified visitor alert sounded inside the Arcane Civilization Army compound.
As the door was pushed open, another familiar bald major appeared before them.
"You've come at the right time; we were just talking about this matter that your department is in charge of."
"Captain Lister, let me introduce you. This is Major Falco, the head of the Cadre Department of our Army Group's General Personnel Department."
"Falco, this is Captain Lister."
The bald man straightened his military uniform again. Although he was a major and a section chief, it seemed as if he had never been used to wearing this uniform before.
His face showed signs of fatigue, and although he was clean, he did exude an air of pleasure mixed with that of several women.
"Captain Lister, it's great to finally meet you in person!"
"Many officers in our cadre department look up to you as a role model and are hoping you'll come over for a visit today!"
"Kali, that's a bit unfair of you! You only kept Captain Lister in your office?"
Major Falco was equally enthusiastic, but compared to Kali, he seemed a bit more familiar with her.
"Major Falco, it was I who allowed Lieutenant Colonel Kali to speak first."
"Haha! You must come and visit our cadre office later!"
"Alright! Falco, why don't you talk to Captain Lister about your duties?"
Have you confirmed this with Major General York?
Lieutenant Colonel Kali then steered the conversation back on track, while also revealing a new piece of information to Lister.
Major General York, one of the three key figures in the Arcane Civilization Army.
He never expected that his promotion to major would involve such a grand commotion, requiring the personal confirmation of a major general!
"Captain Lister, regarding your position as a major, there are currently three positions available for you."
When it came to serious matters, Major Falco, the bald man, became much more serious.
Unlike the slightly frivolous impression he had just given him, this time he genuinely seemed reliable and valued.
"The first thing is that Captain Boren will apply for the position of lieutenant commander for you, the executive officer of Ship A73."
"Ship A73 will soon be upgraded to a medium-sized warship. The new warship is still undergoing final coordination and will be officially in place within two years."
"The second option is for you to serve as the captain of an independent small ship."
"Our army group suffered heavy losses of small ships during this conscription mission, so we have extra naval personnel available for you."
"However, the construction and complete delivery of the small ships will take at least three more years."
"At the same time, if you are to serve as an independent captain, you will need to sign a long-term contract to serve our Arcane Army Group."
How long is the service period?
As expected, the Civilization Army had far more personnel than the Central Army.
Ship A73 is about to be upgraded to a medium-sized warship, but Major Qi, with his rank of 16, is still only a lieutenant commander on a small ship.
Even now, Lister himself has the opportunity to become an independent captain of a small ship.
I'm also curious about the current requirements for this small ship.
"Generally it's 80-100 years. I just spoke with Major General York, and we can be very lenient with you, but the minimum is still 50 years."
Upon hearing this, Lister immediately ruled out this option.
It's not just that the time limit is too long; the main problem is that small ships themselves don't earn enough military merit points.
By the time he leads the small ships on missions to promotions, which would cover the entire workload of the Arcane Army Group, it would be an eternity.
From the perspective of truly building their own Civilization Army, it would naturally be more appropriate for them to stay with Captain Boren, where they could accumulate military merits more quickly.
"And the third one?"
"The third is a position at headquarters, the General Staff Department, Chief of Operations."
After Falco finished speaking, he even took the initiative to explain to Lister.
From a military merit perspective, staying on A73 would naturally be more suitable in the short term.
"As for status and power, a third position would be more suitable."
"From the perspective of being able to transfer into the Central Army, positions at headquarters make it easier for the Central Army to go through the transfer procedures, and the cost will be lower."
Falco's face was full of smiles, and his words seemed to be very considerate of Lister, even analyzing the pros and cons for him.
Lister could sense that the other party was now giving him a slightly scrutinizing look.
And he himself had already realized that the so-called three job options were not so simple at all.
The choice was not merely about the position itself, but rather a test and confirmation of the Arcane Army Group's current attitude towards him.
The question is whether to choose to accumulate a lot of military merits in the short term and leave, or to prefer long-term stable development in the Arcane Army Group, or whether they really intend to go to the Central Army Group.
His choice of different positions confirms this, and this choice also influences the views and attitudes of the high command of the Arcane Civilization Army towards him as the new 'Quasi-Hegemon'.