Cthulhu Gonfalon

If Sui Xiong wanted to learn from the Goddess of Joy, he was under the obligation to stay.

Thus, he had temporarily moved into the Sorrow-Proof Kingdom.

If he had to be honest, he did not really enjoy the stay. The Sorrow-Proof Kingdom had given him strange vibes.

Sui Xiong was of the impression that the kingdom was overly warm and that everything was too soft—the flowers, grass, wind and even the trees were gentle. The most ludicrous thing was that even the stones were soft!

The living creatures here also embodied the "soft" idea, from the smallest flower fairy to the biggest mud giant. If he had not witnessed it himself, he would not have believed that this world could have soft battle monster statues…

The special, singular creatures which were labeled as "joyful monster statues" were naturally created by the Goddess of Joy. They were all approximately three times a normal person's height and were extremely strong and powerful. They were also highly resistant towards others' magic. However, their bodies were extremely soft, and this fact made Sui Xiong doubtful of their abilities.

In reality, his worries were unfounded. Although the creatures' bodies were soft, they were actually extremely firm. One could describe them as being soft but full of tenacity. Most attacks to their bodies would slide right off, and even direct hits would bounce off; thus, they would never experience too much damage.

The combat creatures created by the Goddess of Joy were all mostly of these characteristics. Although they did not look too majestic, they were all strong internally.

Sui Xiong received inspiration from such a realization—he actually belonged to the same category as these soft creatures, and he could use such a battle strategy as well.

Previously, his battle strategy was rougher and more direct. As he had many tentacles, he chose to only reveal a few on a daily basis but when necessary, could increase them infinitely—his main strategy was just to use them as leashes, and he had no second course of action.

From his observations and interactions with the creatures created by the Goddess of Joy, Sui Xiong's fighting abilities naturally improved by leaps and bounds.

Coincidentally, amongst the Oracles that the Goddess of Joy had created, there was a specific type which had the same battle style as Sui Xiong—that was a type of pink, flying octopi whose signature move was spraying bubbles that could make the enemy dizzy. If one were to see these creatures, which were smaller than the size of one's palm, they would not think much of them. But in reality, they gathered in massive groups when necessary, and the group of hundreds of thousands of octopi became a majestic force together.

When they grouped together to become a giant octopus, these creatures (termed affectionately as "Little Pinks") would become a strong melee system. Although they only possessed tens tentacles, when they danced, they were full of tricks and were full of rich and ingenious combat skills.

Sui Xiong followed the oldest giant octopus around to understand its craft and learned much from it, much like a disciple.

As to knowledge towards kingdom-building, he also improved significantly. The Goddess of Joy was a good teacher and was in-depth in her guidance. She even found a small world to demonstrate properties such as why certain things should or shouldn't be done to Sui Xiong visually. From her lessons, Sui Xiong realized that his own kingdom's structure had several issues that required change.

Previously, he had assumed that the Sanctuary that he had built was decent. However, now that he was more knowledgeable, he realized that it lacked foundation. As the Goddess of Joy had pointed out, he had wasted all the talent and inspiration on the looks of the place, but the internal workings…

General structure—fail!

Necessity of facilities—fail!

Matching of needs—fail!

Lack of clear leaders—fail!

Spread of weight—fail!

The only area in which he did not receive criticism was that he had separated the different domains (design, troops, etc.) well, which were decently satisfactory.

"Although the design is terrible, at least the Sanctuary passes the safety element which is most important," the Goddess of Joy said.

Sui Xiong, in a bid to improve, blurted out, "That means there is still space for improvement. Where exactly did I go wrong?"

The Goddess of Joy smiled and spent at least half an hour explaining to Sui Xiong through different angles on how he should separate dangerous elements in the world, which corners required extra protection and what to take note of… At first, Sui Xiong listened intently and nodded from time to time in acknowledgment. However, towards the end, he began to see stars, and his eyes had shrunk into slits in his lethargic state.

When the Goddess of Joy had finally ended her explanation, he sighed and said, "That's too complicated!"

"That was just the basics, I haven't even gone into the details yet!" the Goddess of Joy replied.

Sui Xiong had felt defeated and asked, "Look… how did you learn so much over the years? Is it because you've been trading information with the rest of the system?"

The Goddess of Joy's face darkened slightly, and she sighed lightly.

"They… they don't like to discuss this with me."

"I guessed as much."

If it were up to him, he would also not be willing to discuss such matters in detail. He felt like his brain was about to explode!

The style is not right! The style is not right!

Sui Xiong thought to himself bitterly.

I'm stupid, I really am! All day, I only know how to hide in my room and explore computers, I've forgotten that there are living creatures that I can turn to! The Goddess of Joy is clearly a technical expert, especially in coming up with themes! Previously, I had been skeptical of the soft creatures in her world, but now I see that it was a key theme of hers!

Furthermore, a kingdom like that of the Goddess of Joy's was clearly a new idea that was meant to be novel…

As he thought, he was smiling at the same time at his realizations.

While building Void City in the past, he had been playing with themes all along!

Previously, he had been assuming that he was the only interested in exploring themes, but now he realized that he was not solitary in his passion but rather had isolated himself. After all, the world was so big. How could he be the only passionate one?

This thought cheered him up, and thus, he was satisfied to continue learning well.

After all, he had a new plan in his head.

Once he had mastered enough knowledge in this area, he intended to create a second themed city or garden.

And when it came to that, he would use the southern part of Rye City as a fortress…