Duma finished explaining his thoughts, he laughed heartily, regardless of what the other Soul Returner thought.
[ A Huan ] was speechless upon hearing this. As a "reincarnated person," he had been integrating into this world better and better, but why did Duma, this native, seem more and more like a despicable outsider from another world?
It almost feels like the two have switched roles.
Beside [ A Huan ], another player pondered for a moment and said:
"If you only want to take half of the other person's life, there could be another way, right?"
Duma suddenly stopped laughing, turned around, and asked seriously:
What method?
"You're a fire demon, why don't you try burning him half to death?"
"Burned half to death..."
Duma pondered the words of the Soul Returner, and after a long while, he nodded in agreement:
"Indeed, I always manage to learn something new from you guys."
Please don't try to learn everything, thank you!
[ A Huan ] sincerely hoped that Duma would not be overly assimilated by the real world. Whether this world was a virtual world created by aliens or it was truly another world, he felt that if things continued this way, there might be big problems.
Having resolved the matter with Duma, [ A Huan ]'s friend finally received the final payment from [ Practice More If You're Bad ] and [ Howling Pothos ] as he wished.
To [ A Huan's ] surprise, his four old comrades-in-arms had somehow reached an agreement and, instead of splitting the money 50/50, transferred all the money into his account without his permission.
"You..."
Looking at the changes in the account balance, [ A Huan ] felt a mix of emotions, and his eyes also became a little sore.
"You're taking advantage of the fact that I don't have a chat function!"
Several friends immediately burst into laughter:
"That's true, but we're just here as exchange students, what use is so much money to us?"
"That's right, that's right, why don't we just keep them with you? We'll be visiting your house quite often anyway."
"I hereby declare your house officially requisitioned by us!"
"..."
At the same time, on the central border of the Skeleton Alliance.
[ Ginseng Rooster ] and [ Gill's Cuisine ] appeared in the field of vision of Sandcastle Number Fourteen, along with a group of Soul Returner had returned after the night raid.
The sandcastle had not yet fully recovered from the previous night's battle, and a dozen or so skeleton soldiers were still cleaning up the battlefield outside the sandcastle.
They collected the bodies of the fallen soldiers of the Atli Hundred, arranged their armor and weapons, and then carried them in an orderly fashion to the innermost part of the sandcastle.
The following steps are not for the Soul Returner to see, but according to information shared on the forum, these guys seem to have the ability to transform human corpses into companions.
Therefore, although the Empire currently has the advantage in terms of offense and defense, it does not have the same war resilience as the Skeleton Alliance in terms of replenishing its troops.
News of the suspected enemy's appearance was quickly reported to Colin, the fortress's guardian knight.
Because the newcomers were not skeletons and were riding horses covered in flesh and blood, Colin immediately ordered his soldiers to assemble and prepare for battle.
At the same time, the [ Western Sharpshooter ] next to him also stood up from his chair, his eyes becoming extremely sharp.
The reason why [ The Western Sharpshooter ] is with Colin is because Colin is doing something that sounds outrageous at the time—he is talking to [ The Western Sharpshooter ] about his family of origin.
This Soul Returner fought bravely in last night's battle, leading from the front, and even possessed a weapon capable of penetrating the defenses of an Imperial Beast Centurion.
To be honest, this made Colin feel a little uneasy.
The fact that such a weapon could easily break through the defenses of that beast-like centurion meant it was somewhat of a deterrent to me.
But Colin couldn't openly confiscate the other party's weapons—they were mercenaries, and in a fit of anger, they might just quit or even shoot him, which would ruin the whole great situation.
In a daze, Colin suddenly realized at that moment:
After he refused to accept skeletal reinforcements from the [ Hard Armor ] councilor, all he could rely on were the Soul Returner mercenaries.
Realizing this, Colin immediately changed his attitude. He called [ Western Sharpshooter ] over and told him that he had seen his brilliant performance the night before, so he wanted to get to know this friend of [ Aluode ].
Colin made no attempt to hide his desire to recruit [ Western Sharpshooter ], and after learning about the other's half-true, half-false background, he began to subtly inquire about how the weapon at the other's waist came to be.
This thing is as powerful as the crossbows used by the Skeleton Alliance, but it is significantly more portable and easier to conceal.
Just like how he had coveted the Soul Returner mercenaries before, this time Colin turned his attention to the weapon that might change the world. He was always a person who didn't stick to formalities; he wanted to get his hands on anything useful.
[ The Western Sharpshooter ] was completely unaware of this, so he told him a grand and shocking story as if he had found someone to confide in...
"Before coming to the Skeleton Alliance, we went to Graycast Corridor for a mission."
[ The Western Sharpshooter ] recounts the story in a half-true, half-false manner:
"A rebellion broke out in the Graycast Corridor some time ago. Those rebels have already reached the Great Labyrinth City and are about to capture the Grand Foundry Master alive."
"Fortunately, the Grand Foundry Master had some connections with Mr. Adrian, so we, the Soul Returner, were sent there to help quell the rebellion."
"After the battle, I was personally received by the Grand Foundry Master. He asked me what I wanted, and I said I wanted a portable ranged weapon, so he personally forged this for me."
"This thing is indeed quite powerful, but the downside is that it can only be used six times... it's actually a consumable item."
Hearing this, Colin felt relieved but also somewhat disappointed.
It's good that this thing is a consumable; otherwise, what if you get shot in the back one day?
The disappointing part is that this thing cannot be mass-produced at all; it is a reward given separately by the Grand Foundry Master to the mercenaries in front of him.
Therefore, equipping them with this equipment is completely impossible.
As Colin sighed inwardly, [ Western Sharpshooter ] was also trying to observe the emotions on the skull's face, though it was indeed very difficult.
[ The Western Sharpshooter ] wasn't stupid; naturally, he wouldn't reveal his past to Colin, the Skeleton Knight.
His description, while seemingly reasonable, is actually a distorted version of reality, with less than 10% accuracy.
There are two particularly serious instances of concealment, one of which is:
This weapon was not forged by the Grand Foundry Master Gray. As the mascot of the Graycast Corridor, Gray is still a Middle Tier.
The actual manufacturer of the revolver was indeed Grand Foundry Master, but it was Grand Foundry Master from an earlier era.