Claiming Territory

Once the expansion restrictions were lifted, the Wall District had yet to make a move. It had not even decided which area to expand into next, but the other working groups could no longer sit still.

They acted with lightning speed, posting plaques and notices in the areas around them under the expansion policy and declaring those areas theirs. Some even claimed five areas.

Of course, the chaos lasted only a short while before the Command Council could no longer stand by.

If their mistaken decision cost the final assessment its fairness, it would be a disaster for the Command Council.

So they urgently issued a new rule: each working group could hold no more than three additional areas.

Aolain's assistant had estimated correctly. If all five existing Territory Mage Working Groups claimed their full allotments, nearly every valuable area in White Dragon Port would be taken.

White Dragon Port had dozens of areas on the map, but that did not mean they all had large populations.

Some areas were abandoned and contaminated with waste. Cleaning them up was so difficult that even White Dragon Port's previous administration had left them alone.

Even if every working group claimed all three additional areas, roughly seven or eight areas worth occupying would remain.

The Command Council decided to abandon any notion of equal shares for those remaining areas and simply award them to the winners of the next assessment.

Because the Wall District had started out at a disadvantage in its Territory Mage allotment, the Command Council could only compensate it by offering one extra area to choose from.

With that, the Territory Mage initiative in White Dragon Port entered a new stage. Everyone began surveying its areas, hoping to find the most valuable ones.

No one had examined every area in