Post-Apocalyptic Dispatch Society

There was a bustle early in the morning; all the villagers huddled before the statue as the villager from the previous day sat at the very front, staring at the eyes of the statue.

He didn't drip his blood again but just sat in patience, watching the eyes of the statue gradually glow up. Yihan had told him that dropping blood once was enough as once the statue charged up enough, it would automatically turn him into a Horned Human.

Moreover, the villager himself could sense a certain attraction towards the statue, one that gradually grew stronger over time. This was why he arrived before the statue early in the morning.

As all the villagers woke up early, they noticed his actions and followed him, congregating around the statue as they observed in anticipation.

A couple of hours after dawn, the eyes of the statue fully lit up, casting a beam onto the villager, turning him into a Horned Human.

Everyone confirmed that the villager too obtained the same power as Yihan and Chief Yubak.

Observing that the eyes of the statue turned dim, Chief Yubak started at it patiently, seeing that its eyes were gradually growing bright once again, saying, "It seems it would be charged up by dusk. So, we'll follow the same schedule."

He said, "At dawn and duck daily, we'll make one of us become a Horned Human each."

Following that, Chief Yubak made everyone drop a droplet of blood into the mouth of the statue in the order that he decided. This way, the villagers would know when it was their turn. At that time, they only needed to arrive before the statue to become a Horned Human.

He did this to prevent anyone from giving in to their desire and obtaining the power beforehand, which might create problems. But now that their order had been decided, they avoided the problem altogether.

Chief Yubak then commanded everyone, "We'll create a temple around the statue. It's best to keep it hidden from view."

"Dad, why don't we turn the temple into a watch tower?" Yihan said, staring at Xuna, "Xuna's power allows us to form a defensive coat over any substance. So, if we were to create a stone temple and layer her power over it, not only would it be grand, but it'll also be safe from harm."

He said this due to the Hoil Bees that approached their village. Four of them had already arrived. So, there was no guarantee more of them wouldn't arrive in the future.

And if they were to see the statue, things might get dangerous, especially since they were aware of the Fornol Empire's nature.

They would either destroy the statue or pillage it in order to unearth its secrets.

"This is our lifeline in this changing world. And many centuries down the line, this would be our symbol." Yihan said. After all, at this rate, everyone in their village would inherit the same power, which was basically their identity going forward.

There would come a time when there wouldn't be any normal humans in this world anymore. It was either a blight Human or a Horned Human.

And in that scenario, their village could be considered an ancient Clan as the powers of everyone remained the same throughout the ages.

They possessed a tough armour that protected them from head to toe, a pair of wings that gave them high-speed mobility, natural regenerative powers, an ability to heal others through the substance secreted in their stinger, and finally, their ability to create items from their armour.

Everything one needed was available in their power. So, even as the world changes, they'll remain relevant as one of the strongest close combat clans of Horned Humans.

As Yihan hinted at that, Chief Yubak too understood the significance of it, especially after knowing about Rhizen's task. Xuna would be creating four more Guardian Beasts.

This meant that four more villages like theirs would form.

Gradually, news regarding their village would reach the Lerni Empire through word of mouth, allowing the populace to learn of the existence of five secluded villages: North, South, East, West, and Centre.

If more Guardian Beasts could emerge, Rhizen wouldn't have named their village the West Guardian Village and informed Xuna to name the rest accordingly.

This meant that he already realised that only five Guardian Beasts could appear in this world. And, it was Xuna's task to create them.

The two men discussed as Chief Yubak informed the rest of the villagers, "As Saint Rhizen has declared, we'll rename our village to the West Guardian Village, and the statue to the West Guardian Statue. And in honour of the village's original name, we'll call ourselves the Galtori Clan from now on."

"Galtori Clan..." The villager that had just become a Horned Human smirked in response while staring at Chief Yubak, "So, this means that we're all family from today onwards."

"Yes." Chief Yubak nodded in response before clapping his hands, "Now, we'll begin working on our temple. We'll need large rocks to serve as the building material."

"We need to complete this before more monsters come here and learn of our secret. So, we have to hurry up." Yihan said as he pointed at the mountain nearby, "We've already scouted such locations in the mountain before. So, we'll work on those areas to mine the rocks."

"With me helping you, things would get done quickly." Xuna said, flexing her arms, "Leave the task of carrying the rocks to me."

With that, the engineers among the villagers got to the task of mapping out the structure of the temple that they wished to build. As it would be a stone structure, they had to first make a foundation accordingly, one that wouldn't obstruct the statue's functions.

The top of the temple would be a tower as Xuna told them the ceiling height, ensuring to create an open room where the bubble at the top of the Luck Tower was located.

This way, both the Luck Tower and the tower in reality would be aligned to one another, resulting in harmonious protection for the village.

Moreover, it served to protect the Guardian Beast without obstructing its vision.

At least two Horned Humans were left on duty to protect the village while the rest began to work on the temple. At least once a day or two, a Hoil Bee approached the village and was killed by the Horned Human stationed on watch.

It wasn't easy for a Horned Human to win against the Hoil Bee as their powers were more or less the same. And as the Hoil Bee had been alive for longer, it was more developed than the Horned Human that just obtained the power a day ago.

But with Xuna overseeing everything, things went smooth as the Hoil Bees were dispatched to the afterlife without any casualties. As all the Galtori Clan Horned Humans possessed healing abilities, any injuries could simply be treated.

Thanks to that, the rest of the villagers too became healthy. As for the Horned Humans, not only did they become healthy, but they also became young and strong, making it easier for them to work for extended hours.

Krrr!

A circular blade sawed through the mountainside, cutting out a large piece of rock. The entire instrument was created by Chief Yubak, using his knowledge as an engineer.

As for the propelling force required to generate enough cutting force from the circular blade, Xuna took care of that.

"When I told you I'll help, I didn't mean it like this. Why am I given such a boring job?" Xuna complained, seated on a chair under the shade of a tree, blindly causing her rocket to unleash its thrust.

The rocket had been attached tangentially to a disk that rotated due to the thrust it produced. And using a set of gears created using their armour, the power was transferred into the circular blade that spanned a metre in radius.

Two Horned Humans flapped their wings, hovering in the air as they cut into the mountainside using the circular blade, resulting in a loud noise.

After a while, they managed to cut out a large rectangular slab of rock. It spanned a length of two metres, a height of a metre and a thickness of a metre.

This thickness would correlate with the wall thickness of the resulting temple.

"It's yours, Xuna," Yihan said while wiping his sweat.

"Finally!" Xuna jumped up in joy, relieved as she approached the rectangular slab of rock, "It's been hours!"

She transformed into the Klock, shocking everyone. Only then did she realise that they weren't aware of her transformation, saying, "You'll all be able to do this at Stage 5."

Her body landed above the top of the rock slab as her ten heads coiled around it, with their ends facing up. Their mouths opened as a thrust was unleashed, gradually lifting the rock slab.

Four of the heads altered the direction they faced, stably moving the rock slab towards the village as everyone stared in shock.

"How heavy is this rock?" Yihan looked at his dad.

"A few tonnes at the very least." Chief Yubak said, staring at Xuna in shock to say, "She's damn strong."

It took a couple of minutes before the Klock brought the rock slab to its destination in the village where a team of engineers began to work on grinding it a little to add in grooves and carvings.

"Phew! That was a good exercise!" Xuna said after returning to her human form, grabbing her rocket as she arrived back to her chair, complaining as she stared at the Horned Human group before her, "Cut out another piece quickly."