Ark Simulator, Don't I Have No Physical Form?

Maria covered her face with her hands, feeling too afraid to face her uncle.

Whenever Maria thought of her uncle, the lyrics lingered in her mind. Even though Su Rui had stopped singing, Su Rui's voice still echoed in Maria's head.

Feeling like her brain was about to explode, Maria slowly lowered her hands from her cheeks and complained to Su Rui:

'It's all Su Rui's fault, all I can hear now are those weird song lyrics.'

"I call this artistic embellishment. Like the newspaper in Kazimierz, I made some slight modifications to turn it into more appealing content. If it's published, it'll definitely be a hit."

'You can't send this out~'

"Don't worry, I know what's important." When it comes to matters involving personal reputation, Su Rui and Maria can only joke about it in their minds at most. If it's spread around, things could get serious.

Maria was exhausted from Su Rui's ordeal. She leaned back and lay down on the soft bed, breathing heavily. Her full curves were even more pronounced as she lay down.

Su Rui's image appeared beside Maria, smiling at her, "Tired? Then get some rest."

"Su Rui?!" Maria's eyes widened in shock as she stared at the white-haired, red-eyed Kuranta boy who had suddenly appeared before her. She instinctively reached out, only to find nothing.

"This is just my image. This is what I will look like when I materialize. Right now, I don't have a physical form."

"I see." Maria nodded, then lay back down, somewhat disappointed.

The original work didn't explain why the Nearl family was struggling financially; the castle maintenance was something I added myself. The original only mentioned that they were selling furniture. By the way, the idea of selling groin came from the Bilibili video "Why Did Theresis Preserve His Humble Origins?", which was particularly hilarious.

Volume 5, Chapter 253: Are you there? (Sleeping)

Maria was somewhat disappointed that she couldn't get close to Su Rui, and could only see his appearance.

However, after a tense day, making several phone calls, and trying hard to appear calm and composed while communicating with the person on the other end of the line, Maria was quite exhausted.

After greeting Su Rui, the girl pulled the blanket over herself and closed her eyes.

Overwhelmed by drowsiness, Maria could no longer think much; she didn't think about anything and simply drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Maria slowly woke up and instinctively looked towards her, only to find nothing there, not even a trace of Su Rui.

Was everything yesterday just a dream? Maria couldn't help but think this with some regret. She took out her phone, logged into the account she had saved, and checked it. She found that the 50,000 yuan in the account was real.

In other words, Su Rui's existence isn't just my imagination, right?!

Maria's mood instantly brightened. She got up, drew back the curtains, and felt the warm sunlight on her face, as if her whole being had been healed.

' Su Rui? Are you there?'

"...Sleeping." Su Rui's voice sounded a little reluctant and groggy, making Maria feel embarrassed. She instinctively wanted to apologize, but then remembered that Su Rui hadn't woken up yet, so she quickly shut her mouth.

Hurry up and make breakfast; we still need to prepare for work and craft equipment later.

With this thought in mind, Maria tidied her clothes, quickly went downstairs, and saw that her uncle, Młynar, was already up.

"Good morning, Uncle. I'll make breakfast right away."

Maria greeted Młynar, but Młynar was holding a newspaper, spoke first:

"No need, I'm a bit busy today, so I won't be eating at home. You can cook for yourself."

With that, Młynar put away the newspaper in his hand and walked out of the living room.

Maria watched Młynar's retreating figure and suddenly heard Su Rui's voice in her mind:

"If he was in such a hurry to get to work, why was he able to leisurely read the newspaper just now?"

The sound seemed to be directional. Maria turned her head and saw a handsome young Kuranta boy with white hair and red eyes leaning against the escalator, yawning.

' Su Rui?!' Maria was immediately excited. She rushed back up the stairs and reached out to touch Su Rui, but her hand brushed past Su Rui's cheek again and found nothing.

"I told you, didn't I? I don't have a physical body right now, and only you can see me." Su Rui opened her eyes and glanced at Maria, who looked somewhat dejected. "Alright, you still have things to do today."

'I see...' Maria nodded, dejectedly walking downstairs to the kitchen, where she slowly prepared breakfast.

However, during this process, Maria also came to some realizations. Looking at the bacon sizzling in the pan and inhaling the aroma of the roasted meat, a smile involuntarily crept onto Maria's lips.

Since she's the only one who can see Su Rui now, it means Su Rui belongs to her alone, right? Thinking about it that way is actually a happy thing.

With that thought in mind, Maria quickly prepared breakfast, sat on the soft sofa, turned on the TV, and was about to enjoy it comfortably when she noticed Su Rui's image leaning back on the sofa watching TV.

' Su Rui, do you want to eat? I'll lend you my body?'

"No, I don't need to eat every meal. I'm not some greedy little kid."

Su Rui shook his head. Since Maria had spoken up, he took the opportunity to talk about today's arrangements:

"The mercenary should be almost done with his business. Also, Moromon should call you before noon and transfer the money to you."

As Su Rui spoke, she looked at Maria and said, "Do you have time today? We should probably go out and take care of something. It's okay if you don't, but it would be best if you do."

"Yes, I have plenty of time, I just need to go to the workshop a little later."

Maria nodded, eating her breakfast while looking at Su Rui, who was still a little sleepy and yawning on the sofa. "Where are we going out to do?"

"That mercenary is Oripathy. She's quite capable, and I think we could try to bribe her a little. I happen to have some Oripathy inhibitors on hand, provided, of course, that she actually does a good job."

Maria nodded. "I understand."

It sounded like they were in a hurry, so Maria became serious for a moment. She quickly finished her breakfast, cleaned up the dishes, and then looked at the image of Su Rui still lying on the sofa. He seemed to be falling asleep again.

The white-haired Kuranta, a beautiful boy, looks adorable curled up asleep on the sofa.

Maria looked at Su Rui like this and subconsciously wanted to reach out and gently pat Su Rui's shoulder to wake him up, but then she realized that she couldn't touch Su Rui, who had no physical form.

With a helpless pout, Maria had no choice but to call out, "Su Rui, shall we go now? It's okay if you want to sleep a little longer."

Su Rui didn't answer Maria, but in Maria's vision, Su Rui's message appeared: [I've marked a destination for you; just go there.]

"Isn't Su Rui with me?" Maria looked at Su Rui's image, still sleeping on the sofa, and felt a little disappointed. She had thought that she and Su Rui would be inseparable.

[Okay, stop thinking so much. I live inside your head; I can't possibly leave you. I already told you what you're seeing is an illusion. If you get too far away, I'll just disappear.]

After seeing Su Rui's explanation, Maria breathed a sigh of relief, then tidied her clothes and went outside.

However, the System Materialization Progress also seemed to have changed. Maria glanced at Su Rui System Materialization Progress, which showed that a white-haired, red-eyed Kuranta boy was curled up asleep on the sofa in the corner of her field of vision.

It felt so good to have someone with me all the time. Maria stopped thinking about it and got up to leave the Nearl family mansion, heading towards the destination that Su Rui had marked in her field of vision.

The destination was a deserted place, and the security wasn't great either.

However, Maria noticed that the destination was a very familiar place, Martin's bar, a place that Kowal and his Old F often frequented. Maria would occasionally go there too, but she certainly wouldn't drink.

Volume 5, Chapter 254: I got what you wanted.

Just as Maria was heading to her destination, a phone call came in. It was from the mercenary that Su Rui had asked her to hire.

The call connected automatically; it must be Su Rui operating it, right? She works even while sleeping; she must be exhausted.

Maria, with these thoughts in mind, focused her attention on her conversation with the mercenary:

"I've got what you wanted and put it where you agreed. Where's my payment?"

"Don't worry, your payment has already been transferred. Just check your account."

Maria answered the mercenary on the other end of the phone in a calm tone, glanced at the notification Su Rui had marked for her before going back to sleep, and continued:

"You didn't disturb anyone, that's good. I like working with professional and low-key people. As a reward for your outstanding performance, I have something for you. It's not far from the delivery location, you can go and get it now."

Su Rui's Scanning Vision showed that the mercenary had already gone some distance away, and by the time she returned to retrieve her belongings, Maria had long since left.

Maria arrived at the harvest site, stored the large suitcase full of alloy into Su Rui's System Space, and then left the goods to be delivered to the mercenaries there.

"...I understand." The mercenary on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment, then hung up. Maria put her things down and prepared to go to Kowal's Workshop. Su Rui should wake up in a little while, and now would be the perfect time to leave.

But won't things get stolen if I leave them there like that?

Maria was a little worried, but what she didn't realize was that she had inadvertently spoken those words aloud to herself.

"Don't worry, I know there are plenty of thieves in Kazimierz, but they usually only steal from living people. Only a fool would pick things up randomly from the ground, because no one can be sure whether something picked up from the ground might have a tracking device or an explosive."

"Su Rui? You're awake?" Maria's tone was filled with surprise.

"Of course, now that we have the materials, let's head to the workshop... Perhaps you'd be interested in that?"

Su Rui paused for a moment, then showed Maria the two people she had found in her Scanning Vision: Ursus on a motorcycle and Kuranta, who were looking helplessly around the stalled motorcycle.

They were Maria's two elders, Kowal and Old F.

"Their motorcycle broke down, and I guess you'd like to go help them?"

"Okay, Su Rui, I'll go right now." Maria nodded and ran towards where the motorcycle had broken down.

Halfway there, Maria felt a weight in her arms. Somewhat puzzled, she instinctively hugged it, only to find it was her old-fashioned tool bag.

"You can't exactly pull out your tools empty-handed in front of others, can you? Consider this a good workout; run faster. This weight is nothing compared to your armor."

"I understand!" Maria, as if injected with adrenaline, quickened her pace and soon spotted Kowal and Old F, who were looking helplessly around the motorcycle not far away. She greeted the two old men.

"Are you in trouble? Let me take a look."

"Girl?" The bear-headed Ursuskoval, a creature that had reverted to its ancestral form, looked up at Maria in surprise, then heard Kuranta beside him say:

"Girl, come quick and take a look. That old man Kowal's eyesight is failing; he can't see what's wrong."

"What did you say? My eyesight is perfectly fine, much better than yours!" Kowal immediately became dissatisfied and wanted to argue with Old F.

Maria then stepped in with a smile to smooth things over, "Alright, alright, stop arguing. Let me see what the problem is."

Maria first checked it herself, and then compared it with the scan image provided by Su Rui, and quickly found the problem.

Golden light emanated from the girl's hands, repairing the problematic areas.

After finishing all this, Maria got up, wiped the sweat from her brow, and said goodbye to Kowal and the others:

"Alright, it should be ready to start now. I'm off!"

After bidding farewell to her two elders, Maria once again set off for the workshop, while Su Rui watched as Kowal and Old F praised her.

They say you're very talented!

"Oh dear, Su Rui, this is so embarrassing~" Maria said, but the blush on her cheeks and the smile on her lips showed that she was actually very happy.

Soon after obtaining what Su Rui had asked Maria to leave behind, the mercenary called again:

How did you know I have... Oripathy?

"This is just normal intelligence gathering. Isn't it normal to know about the mercenaries you hire?"

Maria glanced at the hint Su Rui had given her, and a smile involuntarily crept onto her lips:

"Alright, are you satisfied with the gift I gave you? As long as we cooperate well, I can provide you with more of these medicines."

"... I understand. You can come to me if you need anything."

After the mercenary finished speaking, he waited for Maria's reaction until Su Rui hung up the phone.

"Alright, in that case, you basically have that mercenary under your control. Just be a little careful. Rhodes Island also has an office in this city. If she satisfies me later, I can introduce her to them."

Maria nodded, also somewhat curious:

'But, Su Rui, how did you get your hands on the Oripathy inhibitor?'

"I have a special channel, Rhodes Island, which is a reliable Oripathy treatment center. The Oripathy treatments we have now are from when I left, so there's no need to worry about expiration dates. Time doesn't pass through my System Space."

After a pause, Su Rui continued, "I don't know what generation Rhodes Island's Oripathy inhibitors are at now, but the ones we have now, even if they're a little less effective, are at least still working."

While chatting, Maria and Su Rui went to the workshop together. Opening the somewhat stiff workshop door, Maria went to the forging table, glanced around the workshop, and looked somewhat helpless:

"I haven't used these devices in a long time; they're all covered in dust."

After all, Kowal now almost never takes on forging work anymore, only occasionally working as a repairman to earn money.

"Now that you're the only one who knows how to use it, let's clean up these devices first."

Su Rui urged her on, while showing Maria the design drawings:

"I've already designed the armor and sword; I'm just waiting for you to get ready so we can begin forging."

Volume 5, Chapter 255: Maria, You Can't Rest Yet

Forging, armor, and blades all take time; melting the alloy and casting the shape all require careful handling.

Moreover, the blade that Su Rui designed for Maria wasn't just an ordinary blade; what Su Rui wanted was a blade that could transform and shoot.

Although this would result in a slightly weaker blade, it would be perfectly fine as long as it is combined with the forging method and technique provided by Su Rui.