Burnout Reincarnation [SLOW BURN COZY 'MAGIC CRAFTING' KINGDOM BUILDING PROGRESSION] (LitRPG elements) [3 arcs done!]

Nobility in the Omnio Empire is effectively hereditary. While those of common birth can be elevated to nobility through being granted use of Gemstone by their betters, "socioeconomic mobility" is not a meaningful concept.

Yet the prominence of magic suggests a deeper nuance.

The Imperial Capital "runs on magic." A figure of speech?

Only nobles are allowed to use magic proper. But follow a bloodline far back enough, and there's bound to be some "noble" somewhere.

Servants of noble houses are allowed to activate Enchantments. To skim upon the barest surface of profundity — but go no deeper. They are to know their place and use Gem only for what it was wrought. "Enchantment" doesn't count as "magic".

I have broken this law. I have induced Mary to break this law.

And there's the legal exception.

If servants are willing to give up their freedom, and become permanent "vassals" of noble houses, whether they be common domestic servants or the armor-clad Sacred Guard of House Omnio, are granted an exception. They may use Gem of a deeper, more profound mage. They may use it for more than mundane tasks and purposes. They may begin "climbing the crystal tower".

In return, they are bound to the House they serve. The only escape is death.

The rare and lucky few may rise above servitude. They might esteem themselves through valorous act, and gain a full set of Gemstone Armor, and therefore derive the right to strike out on their own as adventurers.

Some gain a noble's personal favor. They join a family proper through marriage or adoption. Their children will inherit their titles, and will be granted the right to use magic from birth.

This is exceedingly rare, and is reserved for the beautiful and the talented.

But for many, after a suitable period of service, they are declared "lesser" nobles. A title with no lands, no holdings, no wealth, just words in a ledger somewhere in the Imperial Bureaucracy. Given the right to Awaken the Gems they've used for their whole lives, receiving no consequence, with the knowledge that this right will die with them, they Awaken far too late to achieve any true greatness, and the only inheritance they leave their children is the wealth they make in this life.

Lesser nobles are far more common than I had first assumed.

I assume this paradox allows the Omnio Empire to exist.

In Raehel's words, the Imperial Capital runs on magic. Messages are sent through the projection of voices through the air. The streets are lit with glowing crystal conduits. Even sewage is processed and purified, turned to clean water through the working of Gem.

The Imperial Bureaucracy and therefore, its power, could not exist without magic and those who give their souls to power it.

But what highborn noble wishes to spend their lives purifying human waste?

Thus, the need for minor titles and minor nobility. Extremely minor. The Administrator of Sewer-24 is given a minor title straight out of graduation from a minor academy — Fifty-Third Subbaron of Sewer-24 — , spends 30 years in his career operating a purification Gem for a hundred hours a week, and the instant he begins to Awaken his Gem, he gains the "proper" but still minor title of, for example, Thirty-Fourth Baron of Sewer-24. This is enough to still his ambitions and keep him maintaining the civic safety of the Empire instead of turning his thoughts to the deeper magics.

Though once you're 50, it's a little late to seek mastery of the mystic arts. True power is a youngster's game.

I may not understand this system perfectly well. I'm sure there's nuance I haven't captured. They give out titles like useless trinkets.

This time around, I won't chase titles over true power.

And like it or not, power and wealth are intertwined.