「Five hours after the first earthquake.」
A giant ring hovered in the sky. As night fell, people could see points of light arranged in a circle under the aurora.
Later, the Celestial Ladder System's Teleportation Gate flickered twice. The Dwarves' two remaining Starships returned to their shattered homeland and began searching for and relocating their surviving compatriots.
Fortunately, monsters spawned by Mother Earth's corruption had become increasingly active in underground caves and mine shafts in recent years. As a result, the Dwarves had already slowed their mining operations. Most residents of the "Resource Cities"—those not serving as administrative or economic centers—had already relocated.
They had either moved to the Federation's coastal port cities—where most buildings were above ground and far from the earthquake's epicenter, thus receiving little damage—or had gone to other planes to participate in mining operations.
