The southern lands of Zheer Continent were virgin territory.
A treasure trove that had gone undeveloped for centuries, ever since Rus Wang had relocated the last group of southern-land Elves over 600 years ago.
Year 620 of Levant, 1,700 years into the Intermission.
When an Elf expedition followed a river into the interior of southern Zheer Continent for the first time, the gold nuggets that could be picked up everywhere along the river stunned its members.
The captain quickly reported the discovery to the government. The prime minister then informed Rus Wang, who realized the expedition must have reached the area where he had once excavated a shallow gold deposit.
The following month, an incentive policy was publicized in cities across the country to encourage people to develop southern Zheer Continent. Gold found along the way could be turned in to the government and exchanged for an equal weight of Lobe.
Among the Elves, whose population was nearing 80 million, there was no shortage of adventurers unwilling to settle for an ordinary life, nor of ordinary people seeking a better one.
Times had changed. Although the government still provided free housing, anyone who wanted a better lifestyle had to pay for it. Better homes and living conditions came with a steep price tag.
They were beyond the means of ordinary Elves.
Soon, with government incentives and arrangements, the first gold rush—more than a hundred thousand people strong—began arriving by train, road, and plane at Tethys City, then a town-sized settlement at the border between central Folded Ear Continent and the southern lands.
After a brief pause there, the crowds, now numbering a million, began pushing into the uninhabited southern lands of Folded Ear Continent.
The army, air force, Dragon Race, and Legal Affairs Division were kept especially busy protecting the