Ark Simulator, Aren't I Incorporeal?

Although you were still somewhat immature, under my guidance, you could grow very quickly. Before long, you'd be able to summon a powerful army anytime, anywhere, with a wave of your hand. Then, the two of us could take down the entire damn Ursus all by ourselves!

Make every last one of them kneel, then humiliate and dominate them mercilessly!"

Su Rui's excited tone made Talulah feel a little embarrassed. She glanced at Koschei, who was still talking at length, sinister and irritating as ever, and softly said in her heart:

I think this plan is a little extreme.

"But it's certainly feasible to a considerable extent."

Su Rui spoke with absolute conviction and produced a pile of evidence. "Look, as long as you keep growing, you really do have this kind of ability. Then, with my reminders and plans, you can definitely defeat and rule the entirety of Ursus by yourself."

...I still want to choose the plan to become a duke.

Listening to Su Rui grow more and more excited, Talulah answered uncertainly. She was a little worried that Su Rui would get angry, but she still felt that becoming a duke was the most reliable plan.

But Su Rui did not truly get angry. After hearing Talulah's words, he curled his lips in boredom.

"Fine. You and—cough—you were both like this. Even though I thought that plan was pretty good."

"Was that your previous host?"

Talulah caught the flaw in Su Rui's words and immediately grew curious.

"Alright, this has nothing to do with you. Class is over. You still have physical and combat training this afternoon, right? When the time comes, I'll teach you properly."

Su Rui seemed somewhat dissatisfied that his plan to take down all of Ursus had been rejected, and his tone was a little unhappy.

But Talulah did not mind. If anything, she felt that Su Rui was easier to understand and get along with like this.

Then, as Talulah stood up, she heard Koschei's voice behind her.

"Oh, right, my daughter. I heard that you even ate pizza before dinner last night? That isn't a good habit, and your etiquette..."

Talulah paused for a moment, then quickened her pace under Su Rui's urging of, "Hurry up, don't listen to his nonsense." She left Koschei only a rapidly departing back.

"...Fine. Let's count it as a small chance for my heir to be willful."

Koschei was also in a good mood because of Talulah's "acknowledgment," so he did not fuss over such a trivial matter.

That afternoon's sparring training was still personally taught by Koschei. This time, with Talulah cooperating seriously and carrying out Su Rui's plans and instructions with absolute determination, she even suppressed Koschei and knocked the sword from his hand.

"You lost, Koschei."

Talulah pointed her longsword at Koschei's throat. Her tone was stern, though she could not fully hide her pride.

"Of course, my daughter. You won. You make me so proud."

Surprise and delight flashed through Koschei's eyes, as though he were happy about Talulah's growth. An inexplicable meaning entered his voice.

"Then, having defeated me, is there anything you want to do?"

Koschei's weapon had been knocked away, and Talulah had a sword at his throat. With the slightest lift of her hand, she could end his life.

Hearing Koschei's implication, Talulah could not help feeling tempted. She wanted to act and kill Koschei.

Then, she asked Su Rui for his opinion. Su Rui, what do you think I should do?

"I have two plans. First, kill him now. You can still retain the identity of the Undying Black Snake, as well as this duke's position and territory. It'll just be a little troublesome.

"Second, kill him during your coming-of-age ceremony. Either works. There's actually no real difference. After all, the Undying Black Snake isn't something those brain-dead nobles can understand anyway."

"Mm." Talulah nodded, a smile appearing on her lips. Then she raised her sword and, under Koschei's delighted gaze, cut off his head.

"Ha... ha..."

Having finally avenged her great hatred, Talulah could not help breathing rapidly. She planted her longsword into the ground, supporting her legs as they trembled from excitement.

Meanwhile, within Talulah's mind, Su Rui saw Koschei enter this place and smiled at him.

"Hello, newcomer."

"You are... No wonder Talulah's reactions have been somewhat abnormal lately. So someone got here first."

The Undying Black Snake wore an expression of realization. Having lost its physical form, it was merely a humanoid mass of black mist.

Su Rui furrowed his brow in irritation. He did not like the Black Snake's assessment.

"I'm not the same kind of thing as you. Get that straight... Forget it. Why am I wasting words on you?"

He had originally wanted to see the Undying Black Snake become enraged, but Su Rui had something more important to attend to now.

He merely snapped his fingers softly, then silently watched the Black Snake.

"What kind of petty trick is this? I'm not so easy to deal with—"

Before the Black Snake could finish its smug words, this portion of the consciousness of an entity that had endured through countless years was erased completely.

And Su Rui received a notification from the Upper System: [Energy recovery successful.]

"Then is there a reward?" Su Rui asked reflexively.

The Upper System did not answer, but Su Rui had already made up his mind to get something out of it.

Upper System Rewards

Thus, within Talulah's mind, Su Rui made no effort to hide his voice. He directly tapped the Upper System's interface with his finger.

"Old man, I worked so hard to deal with that guy, and I even got you some energy. Don't you think you should give me a reward?"

[...] The Upper System still did not answer Su Rui.

Talulah was also confused. Su Rui, can the Upper System communicate?

Although the Upper System had answered many of her questions when they first came into contact, Talulah had subconsciously believed that it was simply a text-based system that provided only the most basic information and possessed no intelligence.

Su Rui clicked his tongue as he tapped the Upper System in dissatisfaction. "This old man just likes pretending to be dead. In reality, it's watching us, and it's definitely watching us in secret. It might even be laughing behind our backs."

Talulah did not particularly doubt Su Rui's words, but she was somewhat worried. If the Upper System could think like Su Rui, was it really alright for Su Rui to treat it like this?

However, before she could speak, Su Rui had already arranged what she needed to do.

"Don't worry. I can definitely get a reward out of the Upper System. Things aren't difficult on your end for now. After all, those maids and Koschei's Snake Scales definitely won't dare do anything to you, the heir. What's more, you may have already become the Undying Black Snake."

As Su Rui spoke, he arranged several prompts within Talulah's field of vision, telling her what to do next.

It was nothing more than pretending, with Su Rui's help, that she had already become the Undying Black Snake. She only needed to communicate with others using the Black Snake's usual tone and bearing, then casually find an excuse to explain Koschei's death.

Talulah's mouth twitched as she looked at the note Su Rui had marked in her vision: [Just say Koschei went out for a walk, accidentally fell down, and got his head cut off by a sword left on the ground.]

Even if the identity of the Undying Black Snake made it easy to explain, wasn't that reason far too careless?

However, just as Talulah wanted to try persuading Su Rui, he conveniently pulled up the excuses used during the handovers between several other generations of Black Snakes. Talulah fell silent again.

There were simply too many reasons, such as drowning while swimming, choking to death while eating, or laughing so hard at a stage play that one's wounds split open and caused death.

[I didn't expect the Undying Black Snake to have such a sense of humor. I quite like that.]

Were the hobbies of so-called immortals really all so similar?

Talulah could not help feeling helpless when she saw Su Rui's evaluation. But since the reason Su Rui gave fit the Black Snake's usual characteristics, she accepted it. She strode to the entrance of the classroom specially prepared by the Black Snake and called out to the maids.

"Duke Koschei accidentally fell and died. I need you to collect his body, make preparations, and bury him."

The maid's eyes filled with terror at Talulah's words. However, Talulah had not been speaking to the maid in the first place, but to the Snake Scales hiding in the shadows.

As soon as she finished speaking, the Snake Scales emerged from the darkness and came before Talulah, giving her a special salute. Talulah put on an indifferent expression and casually responded to their salute according to Su Rui's prompt.

This was the Undying Black Snake's method of verifying its identity, meant to prevent itself from being impersonated.

But in front of Su Rui, the Black Snake's little secret was utterly transparent. He could see through it at a glance.

Seeing the Snake Scales quickly begin moving, Talulah nodded. Sydney let out a sigh of relief while Talulah continued following Su Rui's guide to Koschei's office. From now on, it would be her office.

Talulah opened the unlocked office door and walked in. She looked out over the estate through the broad floor-to-ceiling windows, then sat in the place where Koschei usually sat.

The chair really was comfortable. Looking at the desk before her, Talulah felt somewhat lost. From now on, she would be taking over everything Koschei had.

Not just management of the duke's territory, but also those lurking Snake Scales. Talulah could not help feeling uneasy. Could she really handle so many things properly?

Fortunately, Su Rui had finished communicating with the Upper System by then. Noticing Talulah's mood, he comforted her smugly.

"Don't worry. I'm here, after all. I can help you handle these matters... But I'll also teach you along the way, understand? You need to learn properly."

Considering that he would eventually leave and would not be able to stay by Talulah's side forever, Su Rui decided not to take everything upon himself.

"Mm, thank you."

Talulah nodded and thanked Su Rui in a soft voice, then asked curiously:

"Are you done communicating with the Upper System?"

"Of course. Who do you think I am? And I got something out of it."

Su Rui proudly showed off the reward he had received. Originally, his scanning range could only cover the area of one large Mobile City. Now, his scanning radius had doubled.

"Although Mobile Cities usually aren't that close together, what increased was the radius. That means my scanning area has increased to four times what it was before! In other words, the area of four large Mobile Cities!"

"Mm, congratulations."

Talulah could not really relate to Su Rui's joy. Although she had long realized how powerful Su Rui's ability was, she had always felt that Su Rui's scanning range was already enormous.

It had already exceeded what was necessary to some extent, so in Talulah's eyes, there did not seem to be anything worth being especially happy about.

"Of course."

Su Rui sounded smug, but he was actually a little uneasy. The way he had obtained a reward from the Upper System was somewhat embarrassing, and he was worried Talulah might directly ask him about it.

When Ren Dong had spent time with him before, she had told him that the Upper System seemed to respond better to softness than force. In other words, perhaps he could communicate with the Upper System or make requests by acting cute.

Of course, for a macho man like Su Rui, so-called acting cute simply meant drawing out his tone and speaking in a cutesy voice.

And it really worked. The Upper System had responded to him almost immediately.

And in Su Rui's opinion, the reward was simply fantastic.

As long as his abilities continued growing, one day he would surely be able to encompass all of Terra directly, right?

But Talulah's situation was still the priority. Su Rui cleared his throat.

"Alright, next we need to talk about those idiot nobles."

Upper System: [Don't Ask]

"Mm, what should I do?"

Hearing Su Rui's voice, Talulah subconsciously became serious and waited for what he would say next.

But Su Rui had a bit of a headache. Talulah would definitely have to shoulder the responsibility of being a leader alone in the future. He could not let her blindly trust and obey him like this. She needed to learn to make her own decisions.

He should give her a few options.

"I have several methods. The first is for you to continue acting as the Undying Black Snake, announce your identity, and wait to see what happens. Gradually introduce policies beneficial to the Infected, pretending that you're giving the Infected minor benefits for the sake of profit.

"The second is to directly send Snake Scales to secretly assassinate those nobles. I can provide you with all of their information, and the Snake Scales can imitate them perfectly and take their places. After all, intelligence gathering and assassination are what Snake Scales do.

"The third is to directly start massing troops. Stop developing so cautiously and directly declare, in the name of the Immortal Black Snake, that you intend to govern this country. Force the issue and start a war. By the time those nobles realize what is happening, you'll have purged most of them."

Su Rui personally preferred the third option the most, so when he described it, his tone was incredibly excited. He was practically about to directly tell Talulah to choose it.

But this was Talulah's own decision. Su Rui would not interfere with her choice; he would only provide help.

"Which one do you think is better, Su Rui?"

Talulah looked at the three options Su Rui had marked out and hesitated, instinctively asking Su Rui.

"Personally, I like the third one most. War, blood flowing like rivers—we will win, and they will all fall before us!"

"...I still think the first option is better. Let's take things slowly and let the Infected gather their strength first."

Talulah felt that she had already become familiar with Su Rui. She was not surprised by his somewhat radical personality. She merely smiled and did not choose according to Su Rui's recommendation.

"Alright. The first one is the easiest to carry out right now."

Su Rui did not mind. He simply gave Talulah a few pointers.

"You only need to hold a banquet and deal with those nobles again under the identity of the Black Snake. Oh, right, I have some of the Black Snake's memories here. I'll let you view them from a third-person perspective, so they won't affect your personality."

Talulah nodded as Su Rui spoke. "Do I need to make any preparations?"

"No. You just need to sit properly and make sure you don't fall over in a moment. I suggest closing your eyes and covering your face with your hands, so if a Snake Scale comes in to report something, they won't see your pained expression."

"...Alright."

Talulah was somewhat puzzled, but she still did as Su Rui asked.