Awakened Earth!!

The Demon Lord, the leader of my country, imposed numerous unreasonable taxes on almost everything imaginable, while making it so licensed adventurers only had to pay one percent income tax. She essentially transformed the Adventurer’s Academy into a training ground for every citizen. To obtain an adventurer's license from the Academy, one must acquire basic combat skills and learn fundamental magic. Basic magic includes convenient spells like cleaning and using spirit magic to summon fire spirits for lighting firewood. Spirits can manipulate and create natural phenomena, and magic is more like mana that takes on the properties of elements or physical phenomena, allowing fire magic to burn even in a vacuum or underwater. This is because it's just mana with the properties of fire and not truly fire.

All children are born human, but upon reaching the age of 13, they use an Awakening artifact to undergo the Awakening, which I suspect infuses them with a small amount of chaotic mana. If the Awakening is successful, they can change their race and gender, and they reach physical maturity. During the Awakening, they also gain basic information about their new race. In most countries, unawakened or f-ranked individuals are treated as slaves or worse. In America, 70% of the population is unawakened, with the remaining 30% being Awakened. The awakened are often enslaved through legal loopholes in America.

Australia tolerates the unawakened only because races with low fertility use them to produce offspring. Only 10% of the population in Australia are humans, and 90% of them are f-ranked. These f-ranked individuals can use magic tools but not magic itself. This is because, even though f-ranks have mana, they most likely absorb atmospheric mana, which isn't truly theirs. Awakened individuals produce and store their own mana in their bodies, making controlling their own mana as natural as breathing. However, controlling someone else's mana is nearly impossible and extremely unreliable.

In Australia, the unawakened are not treated with open hostility. Beastkin, who live 200 to 300 years, have the second shortest lifespan after humans. With magic techniques to slow aging, lifespans can be extended up to three times. There are many ways to acquire immortality, but biological immortality is the best form since it has no significant downsides. Unlike other forms of immortality, which often come with severe drawbacks or the prices is not worth it, biological immortality only means you won't die of old age; other causes can still kill you. Because of this, the unawakened are not treated with open hostility, as their relatively short lifespans make them not worth discriminating against by long-lived races.

Every ten years, f-ranks must pay for shelter from the mana storm, which will kill them if they're outside during the storm. Awakened individuals merely sleep for 48 hours to expel the mana overloading their system. In America, shelters are provided for free, though some countries offer free shelter for children and citizens. Australia's shelters are free for children, but f-ranks are charged a million dollarydoos, as the goal is to make them financially reliant on someone else. This is because their primary purpose is to produce offspring for low-fertility races.

You're more likely to Awaken as one of your parents' races, but it's not guaranteed. One’s rank isn’t necessarily important, except for f-rank and s-rank, which are extremes. E-ranks can become strong regardless of their starting rank. While a higher starting point makes it easier, becoming strong still requires effort. S-ranks are monstrous geniuses who grow exceptionally fast.

Allowing them to become power houses effortlessly, f-ranks can't get stronger. We hunt monsters in dungeons and absorb a small amount of life force when we kill them. This life force is used to refine our bodies and strengthen ourselves, but this has its limits. Another way to get stronger is to develop your own unique magic, which transforms the body and soul. Exposing yourself to energy from the spirit realm can help refine your soul strengthening it. The energy of the material realm has a much harsher strain on the soul but can be blocked by physical matter, whereas the energy of the spirit realm can not be blocked by physical matter but puts less strain on the soul.

Beings of the spiritual realm never develop physical bodies due to a lack of need. When they come to the material realm, they use their mana to lessen the strain on their souls. This also allows them to strengthen their souls, which is why they can form familiar contracts to stay long-term in the material realm. One of the requirements is to constantly supply them with mana since they can't recover there mana in the material realm unless they possess a physical body. They can also physically manifest if they get a suitable body, but it's very difficult when they are weak. The stronger they become, the more durable the body needs to be to handle them.

"I see, I have a basic understanding. F-ranks are unproductive, useless members of society with the only redeeming quality being their potential for procreation." replied zero

"Yes, that is correct," I replied. "Additionally, you think I should go with a physical body rather than a mechanical one. Although a mechanical body has many advantages, you won't be able to use magic and it won't adapt enough to outweigh the benefits of an organic-based body."

"Yes, very well. I'll require your help. I'll start working on my body, but I'll need you to teach me magic once it complete."

I return to normal time after moving back to my position and let myself get arrested. I'm thrown in a cell, but I simply meditate and begin absorbing cosmic mana. After an unknown length of time, I'm transferred to a prison space station where I'm thrown into another cell. I continue to absorb cosmic mana. The AI of the prison cell is different from the one on the ship, but they transfer information to each other.

The AI said all the supercomputers capable of running an AI seem to be in space as a safety mechanism. They can just blow up the station in case of an AI attempting to go rogue.