Post-Apocalyptic Dispatch Society

"Guh!" A youth grunted as corruption condensed in his body, turning his hair a shade of green as an Origin Space was formed in his stomach, causing it to be filled with trace amounts of corruption.

Following that, information flooded his mind, allowing him to understand the ins and outs of his ability, causing him to shake his head in disappointment, "My ability is land based."

Sigh!

Kekua Fornol exhaled in disappointment, quickly concealing her emotions to avoid worrying the people too much. She then nodded at the youth, prompting him to leave, "Record details regarding your ability with Himsha."

Himsha was in charge of the team that maintained records of all Blight Human abilities. It didn't just consist of those in the island town but also from the mainland. Information regarding that was procured by their informants stationed in various cities, delivered to them periodically.

Know yourself and your enemy!

This was the classic moto they followed. After all, their goal wasn't to destroy the Fornol Empire, but to deport the current royal family and take their place. Therefore, they were gradually accumulating all information in the Fornol Empire.

And as Blight Humans have taken centre stage in the Empire's affairs, they began to gather all information regarding them already. Moreover, whenever a chance presented itself, they falsified the records in various cities in an effort to feed wrong information into the Fornol Empire's records.

As long as they keep up the efforts, there would come a time when the Fornol Empire create a critical error due to the accumulation of fake information, thereby causing the credibility of the royal family to fall.

At that time, Kekua Fornol would step in and right the wrong, sweeping over things to gain control. Until then, she would gradually disseminate her fame through the masses and gain enough public support.

Things had to be planned long term. It might take a decade or two for her to deport the royal family and take control. Therefore, Kekua Fornol was playing the long game.

One after another, she watched the people she selected awaken to powers that were all land based. But thankfully, things weren't too grim, for after a while, there arrived some that awakened to marine plants instead.

They were part of those that had originally been living on island nations, living a primitive life with little to no necessities of civilisation. And hence, they had a higher chance in obtaining powers regarding marine plants, part of the domain they had adapted to in the first place.

Among them, there arrived one youth whose powers caused a pleasant surprise to the people of the island. For, his ability had zero offensive nature and was purely strategic.

It was perfect for construction purpose, especially underwater. The Blight Human in question was named Lawark. His ability was called Water Shell; it was what they named given how he was able to create solid structures in water.

To demonstrate, Lawark entered the water, causing vines to jut out of the ground from under his feet. The vines quickly coiled to form a hut, one that hardened immediately like a shell, rather solid in nature.

Though, there was a stark difference displayed by the hut between the part submerged and the part exposed to the air.

The submerged part was tremendously tough, capable of withstanding attacks from even Stage 2 Blight Humans for a good minute or two, displaying potent regenerative powers. But the part exposed to the air was akin to a paper, tearing apart with a mere tug of his hand.

Still, the sheer fact that he could build whatever underwater structure with a solid foundation was a testament to the potential his power held. After all, it meant that they could establish large structures underwater to create an empire if they so desired.

These plants were autonomous in nature, healing naturally over time as new cells were created over time to replace the old, worn-out cells, allowing the structure to grow strong over time. And best of all was the fact that these structures were capable of absorbing Blight Cores to strengthen themselves, just like Blight Humans.

The rate of strengthening was only a fraction of a Blight Human, but this meant endless potential. After all, given they could procure enough Blight Cores, they could strengthen the underground structures to a rather terrifying level.

It simply meant that over time, the structure they create would become impregnable. A year later, it would be strong, a decade later, it would reach a terrifying level of accumulation, and a century later, it might become akin to a natural landscape that was almost impossible to destroy, given it was consistently reinforced with Blight Cores.

There was a limit to this method, given that the peak of reinforcement was limited to the quality of Blight Cores fed to it. But as the world continues to develop, the quality of the Blight Cores would too, which would invariably mean the strengthening of these structures.

And best of all, this could be done without Lawark's intervention.

"Himsha, here's your answer." Kekua Fornol smirked in response, bringing Himsha and Lawark with her to a nearby room as she pulled up a parchment on which she drew rough drawing of the island cluster in their sea region, followed by the mainland.

She then drew lines connecting them all, saying with a smile, "We'll create underwater channels connecting the various islands to set up our base of operations. In the future, the growing strength of the marine creatures would become our natural shield."

"And," She smirked, pointing at the line leading to the mainland, "This will become out route to the mainland. I'll connect it to this massive lake from where we'll draw out freshwater for all our consumption. There would be an underwater palace within this lake, hidden from view where we'll station our troops."

Her plan then detailed how they'll make similar routes from the lake, making tiny islands a few square metres wide where at most a tree or two would grow, camouflaging an entrance their people would use to proceed towards the mainland.

And anyone tracking them would lose all trails at the lake where it would seem as if the one they were tracking had committed suicide, all while a massive palace was situated right there.

Moreover, it wasn't as if these underground lines would remain unmanned as the plan also indicated underwater forts, large enough to station at least two to five thousand men in each and smaller stations for around a hundred in each, set as checkpoints through the routes.

This ensured that even if the Fornol Empire were to discover these routes, they had to battle these underwater forts that acted like checkpoints in the tunnels. And worst of all, if the Fornol Empire were to dispatch a large enough army, they would need considerable time to move through the narrow passages, for only the areas with the forts were massive, while the rest were only large enough for two carriages to pass side by side, definitely not enough space to move an army through easily.

Therefore, the armies would have to make a large file, making it easy for the forts to defend. And best of all, if they deem the strength of the invading army to be beyond what they could handle, all they needed to do was to break a part of the tunnel, allowing the water to flood in and drown the trapped army.

Kekua Fornol would definitely ensure that Lawark produced as many descendants as possible to ensure that they could create and destroy as many underwater structures as necessary, always maintaining an initiative.

It was a solid means to establish a marine nation and even invade the Fornol Empire in the future. It gave her the means to change her plans, if necessary, 'After all, just this means that I can grant asylum to all indignant people dissatisfied with the Fornol Empire in the colonies under their rule. Just by that, I can rapidly increase the number of people under my rule.'

'But first, I might gather enough Blight Humans, especially those with parasitising abilities. That would make us a strong deterrent against the Empire.' Kekua Fornol finished strategizing, grinning as she announced, "We need as many Devil Fruits as possible. But other than that,"

She looked at Himsha, "We need all the Blight Humans to birth a second generation of Blight Humans. This way, even if we fail to procure enough Devil Fruits, our population of Blight Humans would reach a solid level within the next two decades."

"We must prepare on all fronts to achieve our goal."

...

Fornol Empire; a youth walked gallantly through the palace's main hall, nodding in response as each of the soldier stationed there saluted upon spotting him, gasping in shock upon seeing his dense green hair, one that was parted into three, signalling that he was at Stage 3.

And given the sheer extent of corruption condensed in his body, and the sharp aura he emanated, it was apparent that he was approaching the peak of Stage 3, one of the strongest of the world.

The youth soon arrived at the throne room, kneeling before the Empress as he took out a scroll and extended it up while kneeling respectfully, "The Lerni Empire's planning something ridiculous."

A servant took the scroll and presented it to the Empress, Feleokruna who opened it, frowning subtly upon staring at the picture drawn on it, rather vividly at that, "Lortwik, be honest and tell me if you're kidding me."

"I wouldn't dare, your highness." Lortwik, son of Luncress bowed respectfully, "I've personally witnessed them myself, almost losing my life in the process."

The Empress noticed deep scars on his body, also observing that he was lacking many fingers, nodding as she stared at the figure of the Horned Human in his West Guardian form, muttering softly, as if asking someone for confirmation, "Is it true?"