Quote Originally Posted by David75 View Post
My guess is 1st class mages are the regional/country last line of defence. They need to be able to survive or they would die quickly in a war/invasion or any kind of threat like demons for example.
Still seems like a massive waste that could easily kill off a lot of your 2nd best mages, which would leave you weaker against those threats. Especially since those mages will now never grow to become 1st Class mages.

You can develop tests that prevent weaker mages from becoming 1st Class without killing them off.

Crap like this is probably why there were "a lot more mages in the past" as Frieren said. It's clearly a system designed around enhancing the prestige of few mages, rather than prioritizing the safety of human civilization.