I see where you are coming from but feudalism is rewarding innovation the entire time.

A lord gives your family a plot of land to live on. You are a freeman, the only thing is you have to pay either with serviceship in the lords army or with taxes(harvests, tools, equipment, etc).

You could innovate by creating a new product in your trade that’s a hit across your kingdom. Several blacksmiths and guilds were well known throughout Europe and Asia as well. This innovation could lead you to financial freedom.

The problem with todays view on feudalism is that it was mostly just serfs and lords, there were a lot of freedman and freedwomen who went by many different things but were still labeled as “peasants” and when we hear the term peasants we automatically assume serfdom. While not entirely wrong it’s just a generalization.

If you were a serf you could possibly buy your way into a guild/gild (however you wanna spell it), or just buy your freedom. You could become an apprentice which automatically takes you out of serfdom.

The fastest way out of serfdom is through the church in feudalism. You yourself or one of your children need to pay for an apprenticeship to become part of the clergy. So you and your wife construct a shoddy loom and start weaving some cloth with some spare flax. You sell this to pay for your child’s education so they can get you out of serfdom or have the chance to get out of serfdom.

We see these same things play out in everyday life in any capitalistic country today.