"... Are they really all skeletons?"
[ Soaring Clouds 3773 ] was a little taken aback for a moment--
Doesn't this world already have a Blood Corpse force, akin to the undead?
So now the Skeleton Alliance are also this kind of undead race?
Doesn't this positioning overlap a bit?
He had previously thought that the skeletons in the Skeleton Alliance were a metaphorical term, meant to express that they were built on the scorched earth of a dead empire, and so on.
However, it now seems that the naming of this faction is much simpler and easier to understand than the speculations of those "disorder scholars" on the forum—they are just a skeleton, otherwise, why would they be called the "High Soup Alliance "?
"Yes, I have some candid photos sent by [ Clear Soup Master ], but neither of us likes to post online, so we haven't made them public."
[ Practice More If You're Bad ] said as he sent two photos to [ Soaring Clouds 3773 ]'s chat box.
Upon opening it, the poor image quality was secondary; the content, however, was truly outrageous:
The main subject of the image is two dressed skeletons working together to move something. These two (if they can be called human) are pure skeletons, with not a single trace of flesh visible on their bodies. It's unclear whether they have been dead for too long or have been eaten by some animals.
One of them had obvious crystallization on his left rib area, while the other had it on his right femur.
Although these crystals are obvious, they are not aesthetically pleasing. Their colors are mottled and their transparency is not high. If it weren't for their relatively regular shapes, they could almost be mistaken for polished semi-transparent pebbles picked up from the riverbank.
And what these two were currently moving was certainly not anything of importance.
A wooden crate held tightly to the chest by two skeletons contained a curled-up skeleton.
These two people appear to be transporting goods, but they are actually moving corpses.
"Well, how should I put it..."
Seeing this bizarre scene, [ Soaring Clouds 3773 ] tried to organize his thoughts:
"In a sense, this can be considered a sedan chair."
"..."
His lips twitched twice, and [ the Practice More If You're Bad ] finally lowered his head and chuckled quietly.
After a dozen seconds, he finally finished venting his emotions, and then he raised his head, seemingly transforming back into that low-ranking officer of the empire:
"We didn't have enough manpower at the time, so we chose to split up and work separately."
"[ Clear Soup Master ] and [ Dark Archmage ] should both be conducting reconnaissance in the border region between the Empire and the Skeleton Alliance, although they are quite far apart—now that the Skeleton Alliance has been ruled out as a suspect, the Empire is the only possibility left, so everyone is trying to keep heading towards the Empire."
[ Soaring Clouds 3773 ] nodded and asked further:
"So what exactly happened to you...?"
"Yes, now for my story..."
When talking about others, especially the two "legendary players" [ Dark Archmage ] and [ Clear Soup Master ], [ Practice More If You're Bad Lian] can talk endlessly.
But when he spoke of himself, his language suddenly became impoverished; even a rather exciting and suspenseful story sounded somewhat dry.
"Well, my mission was to infiltrate the Empire to investigate relevant information, but as you know, these things are never that simple..."
"Fortunately, I am a half-dragon, so infiltrating the empire is not difficult."
"I've always followed an Animal Compatibility path, and before going on the mission I bought a few second-hand dragon scales (dragon scales from the half-dragon people of the Dragonborn Village Dragonborn Village ) and carried them with me, so I don't have to worry about gradually turning back into a human."
"However, the identity of Dragonborn is still too sensitive, especially since I've heard that there are no dragons in the empire at all..."
"So how did you cover it up?"
[ Soaring Clouds 3773 ] is now worried that his affair with the Vine Dog will be exposed, since A Luo already knows about it, and [ Soaring Clouds 3773 ] naturally wants to find some ways to cover it up.
"Simple. I bought a few files from the blacksmith and filed off a piece of the dragon horn on its head."
"You're really ruthless to yourself..."
"Well, compared to a sergeant taking damage for his men, he's still slightly inferior."
[ Practice More If You're Bad ] smiled and continued:
"In short, after filing down the dragon horns, I disguised myself as a symbiotic being similar to some kind of salamander. If anyone asked, I would say that I maintained my state by using salamander scales."
"And in the eastern part of the Empire, near the Skeleton Alliance, there happens to be a large desert. It wouldn't be surprising to find any animals there, so no one suspects me."
[ Soaring Clouds 3773 ] nodded in agreement, but felt somewhat disappointed that he couldn't apply the same excuse to Vine Dog.
"During that time, I was wandering around the empire and that's when I ran into the nobles' conscription officer."
"They saw that I was in good health and that I was a refugee, so they trusted me and, after a brief inquiry about my identity, they recruited me into their group."
"The army that was there during the day is the one under the command of the nobleman I now belong to. The one leading them is the son of the marquis who recruited me; he's now a viscount."
[ Practice More If You're Bad ] Reflecting on what he had seen and heard during this period, he explained:
"The empire reformed the feudal system for nobles, but it did not completely change it. It simply stopped granting real fiefs, but titles and such still existed."
"These fiefdom nobles who were transformed into court nobles would receive professional education and be assigned jobs."
"One of their main uses now is leading troops, so they can also recruit some personal guards, but the number cannot be too large."
[ Soaring Clouds 3773 ] scratched his head in confusion upon hearing this:
"I'm a little confused—is that army for the nobility or the emperor?"
"Um..."
[ Practice More If You're Bad ] thought for a moment and explained:
Do you know about the 'household servants' or 'retainers' under generals in feudal dynasties?
[ Soaring Clouds 3773 ] shook his head awkwardly.
Simply put, all the soldiers in this country are theoretically under the emperor's command, but how can the emperor manage them all by himself? He can only rely on a group of court nobles who have received relevant training to assist in management.
"And the nobles can't manage everything, so they also need some of their own subordinates. Subordinates need subordinates, and like a layered cake, in the end, the nobles will recruit a lot of people to enrich their own ranks."
"These people are mainly divided into two categories: one group is responsible for coming up with ideas, that is, advisors, and the other group consists of pure elite soldiers. When His Majesty the Emperor gives the order, each of these people can directly become junior officers."
"Hey, I got it!"
[ Soaring Clouds 3773 ] suddenly remembered a famous ancient novel he had read:
"So, on the surface you're just a common soldier, but you're actually a reserve talent. Once the emperor's troops are allocated, you'll instantly grow bigger and taller, becoming..."
At this point, [ Soaring Clouds 3773 ] glanced at [ Practice More If You're Bad ]:
"A centurion?"
[ Practice More If You're Bad ] revealed a smile that was hard to decipher:
"Take another guess?"
"Centurion?!"