Even several days later, Colin still found the situation hard to believe.
If the skeleton man didn't have no need to sleep, he would almost doubt that he was dreaming.
Prior to this, he had already wasted more than a decade in his position as a fortress knight.
Time may not leave any marks on his skeletal face, but its passage is beyond his control.
The imperial border troops opposing him had rotated two or three times, but he still held onto his sandcastle. His skeleton soldiers came and went, died and came back to life, with few new faces and many old ones.
Although skeletons live much longer than humans, whose time isn't time anyway?
If given the opportunity for promotion, Colin wouldn't want to spend the rest of his life in a border sandcastle.
Even with his strong desire for promotion, he never imagined it would come so easily.
He had become somewhat smug after contacting Councilor [ Hard Armor ] directly through the communication finger bone and obtaining the position of concurrently holding Sandcastle Number Fourteen.
Although it was just one more sandcastle, the area under its jurisdiction and the number of soldiers under its command doubled.
While feeling somewhat agitated, he also felt a deep sense of lingering fear.
I was too impulsive back then.
Reporting to higher authorities without authorization is a taboo in the military, but fortunately, the [ Hard Armor ] councilor didn't care about such a trivial matter, and the Osmond military governor in charge of the entire central border war zone naturally didn't care either.
Neither of them cared, so even if their boss, Gelan, did care, there was nothing he could do but accept it (if he even had a nose).
In reality, this concurrent position, which was practically nonexistent in the eyes of important figures, was something Colin earned through the fighting and bloodshed of his soldiers.
Colin's plan was to honestly accumulate military merits, and as long as he didn't die, he would eventually get promoted.
He was such a rigid person... a rigid skeleton, even the use of large-scale Soul Returner mercenaries was considered somewhat unconventional in his eyes.
However, just a few days ago, reality tore a deep, irreparable rift into his worldview.
It was just a small-scale battle, just the first to reach a captured fortress. I had done this before, more than once, and the battles were far more brutal than that day.
What did I gain before?
A lukewarm encouragement?
A subtle, almost imperceptible compliment?
Or perhaps it was the arrogant or disdainful gaze of my colleagues?
Besides that, there doesn't seem to be anything else.
But what about this time?
Compared to before, it was just one small step added—synchronizing the superior's arrogant remarks to higher-ranking officers.
That's all. There was no conflict, no personal grudges, and yet he became the guardian of six sandcastles, the "Fortress Bastion Lord Knight"!
All of this was simply because he had followed the advice of a Soul Returner and activated a runic finger bone that allowed him to communicate with his superior before meeting Gelan.
That's all.
Now, all five small or medium-sized sandcastles, numbered 11 to 15, are under his command.
These five sandcastles are arranged in a row along the central border of the Alliance, with intervals of about twenty miles.
Starting from Sandcastle Number Eleven at the northernmost point, the area stretches approximately one hundred miles from north to south, which is the current territory of Colin.
If the Imperial Army breaches any sandcastle and the Alliance is unable to retake it, or if the Imperial Army brazenly marches into the heart of the Alliance territory, then these are all his faults.
With his increased responsibilities came Colin's growing power.
These sandcastles now house a total of about eight hundred Soul Returner and Skeleton Soldiers, plus two—no, five—guardian knights, all of whom Colin can mobilize at any time.
After his "ascension," Colin didn't forget to help his Soul Returner, because without their valiant fighting, he wouldn't have gotten such a great deal.
Whether they were hoping to gain favor or genuinely seeking recognition, a few days ago, [ Western Sharpshooter ], [ Lion Hidden in the Eyes ], and [ Dark Archmage ] officially took up their posts as the guardian knights of Sandcastle Number Fifteen, respectively.
[ Western Sharpshooter ] repelled a night raid by the Empire's elite forces, severely damaged an Imperial centurion ( Atena ) who nearly caused the collapse of the defenses, and achieved a great victory in a subsequent cavalry battle.
[ Lion Hidden in the Eyes ] organized a highly successful night raid, and after being resurrected, he led a team to attack the rear of the Imperial Army and was the first to recapture Sandcastle Number Thirteen.
[ Dark Archmage ] has been staying at Colin's base camp Sandcastle Number Fifteen, during this time. Although she has not participated in any large-scale battles, she has arranged the day and night patrols in an orderly manner and used her plant abilities to distribute Oil Vine signal flares to the skeleton soldiers, thwarting the Imperial army's night attack plans several times.
These three are among the best players who joined the Skeleton Alliance. Many players who were still lowly soldiers in Sandcastle were shocked when they learned of their promotions from the forums.
After all, they never imagined that the position of Fortress Knight would be held by a different race like the Soul Returner.
The skeletons were also unaware of this.
The local skeletons never imagined that their boss was actually a human being with flesh and blood in the literal sense.
They were naturally very unhappy to be ridden on by a foreign race, but it was no use.
With this elevation in status, the Soul Returner is no longer a skeleton man and has no worries about his skeleton soldiers disobeying orders.
Because Colin, who had become the Bastion Lord, had placed new crystal clusters between their foreheads, at this position, these crystal clusters were not only a kind of restriction, but also a symbol of status and position.
Although the players didn't see anything suspicious, the skeletons were at least intimidated by it.
New jurisdiction, new subordinates, new border sandbars... Besides these, Colin gained some other things.
That was a large, unnumbered sandcastle that the Bastion Lord had to personally oversee. It was filled with armor, weapons, rune bones, rune crystal clusters, and other items, as well as nearly five hundred fully armed heavy cavalrymen.
Colin now knows that these guys are officially called " Hard Armor Heavy Cavalry ". Each one was personally selected by the [ Hard Armor ] Councilor from a massive number of skeletons, and they are stronger than ordinary skeleton soldiers in both size and strength.
Moreover, their armor could not be removed at all; it had become an integral part of their bodies.
Besides some skeleton guards and Soul Returner soldiers, Colin was accompanied by another person he personally selected when he took over the large sandcastle: his trusted confidant [ Ginseng Rooster ], who had become a true "strategist."