A Detailed Account of the Augustus Empire's Power System

This system centered on battle aura and arcane arts, emphasizing the profound interplay between political power and individual strength.

I. The Knight Path (the Path of Battle Aura)

The knight's path was the mainstream power system among Imperial nobles, especially military nobles. It emphasized resilience, courage, and the utmost development of physical strength.

* Core cultivation: Awakening and tempering the "life energy" within one's body—battle aura. Battle aura could greatly enhance strength, speed, defense, and recovery. High-level knights could project their battle aura outward, forming armor or launching ranged attacks.

* Detailed ranks:

1. Apprentice Knight: Could sense the existence of battle aura and use it for basic enhancement. Status: elite recruits in the army or noble retainers.

2. Novice Knight: Battle aura could circulate steadily within the body, and physical abilities surpassed those of ordinary people in every respect. Status: noncommissioned officers or squad commanders in the army.

3. Intermediate Knight: Battle aura could initially coat weapons, increasing their lethality. Status: lower and middle-ranking army officers, such as centurions, or the backbone guards of noble families. (The protagonist Leon's current rank, though his battle aura was unstable.)

4. High Knight: Battle aura could cover the entire body to form basic "battle aura armor," already a symbol of valor on the battlefield. Status: the mainstay of the army, capable of commanding elite units, such as regiments. This was the typical strength of barons or viscounts with real power.

5. Earth Knight: Their hallmark ability was transforming battle aura into armor. Their defense was astonishing, and they could glide through the air at low altitude for a short time. One person was an army, capable of easily crushing hundreds of ordinary soldiers. Status: senior army generals, such as division commanders, or the core strength of border counts and veteran viscounts. (Such as Marquis Gilbert.)

6. Sky Knight: Could fly freely and possessed powerful anti-army capabilities, capable of changing the course of a local battle. Their battle aura could be projected outward in large-scale attacks. Status: among the Empire's top combatants, they usually served as legion commanders, marquis heirs such as Karl Hohenzollern, or the emperor's trusted generals.

7. Sanctuary Knight: Formed a unique "domain," within which they possessed authority nearly equal to that of a god. They were a nation's strategic deterrent and would not normally be deployed lightly. Status: Imperial Marshals, princes, Grand Dukes, or the most powerful marquises, such as the Old Hohenzollern Marquis. There were fewer than ten in the entire Empire.

8. Legendary Knight: A rank found in epics and legends, whose deeds were turned into songs and sung far and wide. One person could stand against an entire nation.

9. Divine Punishment Knight: Demigod-level. None had appeared for a thousand years, and they were regarded as myth.

II. The Mage Path (the Path of Arcane Arts)

The mage path placed greater emphasis on knowledge, talent, and the cultivation of Spiritual Power. Their numbers were far fewer than knights, but their strategic value and rarity granted them exalted status.

* Core cultivation: Increasing Spiritual Power through meditation, resonating with the "Magic Elements" or "Mana" of the world, and guiding energy through spells, runes, magic arrays, and other forms to accomplish all manner of miracles.

* Detailed ranks:

1. Magic Apprentice: Learned fundamental knowledge and could cast cantrips or minor support spells.

2. Novice Mage: Could reliably cast first-circle spells, such as Small Fireball and Cold Ice Arrow, and serve as magical damage dealers in adventurer parties.

3. Intermediate Mage: Mastered second- and third-circle spells and possessed area-of-effect attack capabilities. Status: accompanying army mages, noble advisers, or instructors at the Royal Academy of Magic.

4. High Mage: Could cast fourth- and fifth-circle spells of tremendous power. Status: highly respected, capable of becoming the master of a city's Mage Tower or serving as a magical adviser to an important department.

5. Great Mage: Proficient in advanced spells from multiple schools and possessed vast knowledge. Status: core professors at the Royal Academy of Magic, honored guests of marquis families, whose research achievements could influence national policy.

6. Archmage: Could independently construct large-scale magical rituals or permanent magical facilities, such as citywide protective barriers. Status: regional giants, usually serving as heads of Magic Academies or chief magical advisers to the royal family.

7. Grand Archmage: A strategic-level existence. Could independently cast forbidden spells and possessed the ability to alter terrain, affect the weather, and destroy an entire legion with a single strike. Equal in rank to a Sanctuary Knight, they were one of the Empire's most important foundations. (Countess Margaret von Strauss might well have been at this rank.)

8. Saint Archmage: Possessed an extremely deep understanding of the essence of magic. Their lifespan was greatly extended, making them almost inhuman.

9. Mythical/God of Magic: Equivalent to gods walking the mortal world.

III. The Interweaving of Power and Authority: The Empire's Rules of the Game

In the Augustus Empire, individual strength was an important cornerstone of power, but by no means the only one. True power lay in how strength was used.

1. The relationship between strength and noble titles/official positions:

* Barons/viscounts generally required the strength of a High Knight or Intermediate Mage and above as support.

* Counts with real power required at least the strength of an Earth Knight or Great Mage; otherwise, it was difficult for them to hold a territory.

* A marquis, or their core heir, had to be at least a Sky Knight or Archmage. The family also had to have a Sanctuary Knight or Grand Archmage guarding it, or else it could not maintain its exceptional status.

* The royal family and dukes had to possess, or be capable of mobilizing, Sanctuary Knight/Grand Archmage-level power. This was the violent foundation of their legitimacy to rule.

2. The balance of power:

* Knights vs. mages: Knights represented traditional, direct military power and were the foundation of noble rule. Mages represented knowledge, innovation, and strategic value. Emerging magical nobles, such as Countess Margaret, were challenging the old order. The two sides competed over resources, such as magical minerals, and political influence.

* Individual prowess vs. collective armies: A Sky Knight could defeat a hundred soldiers, but a formation of a thousand well-trained soldiers equipped with Demon-Breaking Crossbows and accompanying army mages could surround and kill a Sky Knight. Therefore, the great nobles still had to maintain vast conventional armies.

* Top-tier combatants vs. political rules: Sanctuary Knights could not casually attack lower-ranking nobles. Doing so would break the unspoken rules and provoke a united backlash from every faction. Their existence served more as deterrence, like nuclear weapons.

3. The roles of power in the current political situation:

* Signs of weak imperial authority: The Old King was advanced in age, and his strength might have fallen from the Sanctuary realm. Furthermore, the number of Sanctuary Knight/Grand Archmage-level forces the royal family could directly mobilize was insufficient, causing its deterrence over the feudal lords to decline.

* The core of the succession struggle: The two Princes and their factions, Soros and Grey, were both desperately trying to win over the remaining Sanctuary-level experts and Grand Archmages in the country. The attitude of the prince, the Imperial Marshal, was crucial precisely because he himself was a Sanctuary Knight and directly controlled the most elite royal legions.

* Hohenzollern's confidence: Its reputation as possessing "the strongest military strength" referred not only to the number of troops, but also to its advantage in top-tier combatants: the Old Marquis, the "Wolf of the North" of the Sanctuary realm, and the current Marquis, at the peak of the Sky realm.

* Leon's "good-for-nothing" image: In the martial Hohenzollern Family, an eighteen-year-old heir who was still merely an "Intermediate Knight with unstable battle aura" was a fatal blow to the family's honor. It also made hostile forces, such as Marquis Metternich, believe they had an opportunity to exploit.