Politico-economic structure of Glory City.

Glory City isn't just a city. It's a country consisting of one huge agglomeration with tens of millions of population. They are united for mutual protection against the Demon beasts.

The population is highly divided into classes. There's an upper nobility (Major and Noble families), lower nobility (Aristocratic families), and commoners. High status means a great many privileges. It's a strictly defined feudal society where the status of the person is determined not only by their birthright but also by their personal power.

In other words, Black Gold rank noble can slaughter tens of thousands of commoners without breaking a sweat so any kind of rebellion is completely impossible. Additionally, the City needs these powerful cultivators to protect it against the Demon beasts so no one even contemplates that.

There are 3 major families, 7 noble families, and 20 aristocratic families. And they are not families in a strict sense. They could be better described as clans. Not everyone is related to each other, only the ruling branch members are usually members of one family.

Each clan is very populous. Even one of the weakest aristocratic clans the Heavenly Marks family has more than 6000 members. And other more prosperous aristocratic families can boast tens of thousands of members. And Noble and Major clans are much bigger.

And each of those clans has their own small fiefdoms. And the government in the form of the City Lord's mansion doesn't interfere in their internal affairs. The government can exert its full power only on the matters of the defense of the city, the general fiscal system, and law enforcement in the commoner territories.

The City Lord is voted by the nobles of the city. And when they vote they vote for an entire family, not one person. In another word, if someone was chosen that means their clan was chosen to rule the City. And that position practically becomes hereditary unless that family becomes too weak and booted out.

City Hall is a subordinate structure of the City Lord's mansion and dealt with the daily matters of the City.

And as stated above society is deeply divided. It reflects in the economy as well. The lower classes live in the conditions of a third-world country. Where wages are low but things are also cheap. And higher classes make more money but the things they buy are more expensive. That means demon spirit coins have a different value for them. If it's compared to the dollar I would say that for commoners one spirit coin is worth 20 dollars, for aristocrats 10 dollars, and for upper-level nobles 5 dollars.

So many different prices in one City are possible only because they need different products. For example, why would a commoner be interested in a black-gold rank demon spirit? And most of the businesses are owned by the nobles.

The glory city has numerous non-cultivator armed forces. Also, there are hundreds of thousands of cultivators. Because otherwise there would be no way Alchemist's Association could make so much money from selling elixirs. Let's say above 500 thousand. I decided to take a 25:1 proportion when passing to the next grade.

So 500 thousand Bronze rank, 20 thousand Silver rank, 800 Gold rank, 32 Black gold rank, and one Legend rank.

But where did they appear from? With their job being dangerous there must be many casualties among the cultivators. That means Glory City every year produces up to fifty thousand cultivators each year. But Holy Orchid Institute doesn't seem so crowded.

It means there are other schools in the City. That's not including clans' own schools. So big clans' schools (prestigious, but private. Quality of education is at the level of Holy Orchid Institute.), Holy Orchid Institute (local Hogwarts, oh I mean Harward. Prestigious, but expensive. Only the rich can study), and dozens of unnamed schools for poor clans and commoners that prepare the bulk of Bronze rank, a few silver demon spiritualists and most of the fighters.

I imagine most of the Nie Li's clansmen study in the third type of schools because they can't afford Holy orchid Institute and their clan doesn't have its own school.