Cthulhu Gonfalon

When the newly planted green cabbage was flowering outside the Pyroxene Town, Reif received a special order.

“Go to the Void Mask Land and attend an exchange group there?” he repeated the supervisor’s words somewhat blankly, not knowing what they meant.

He could understand every word the supervisor had said, but when the words were linked together in a sentence, he didn’t know their meaning.

An exchange group? What was that?

Why did he need to join an exchange group? Why would he spend a few days in Void Mask Land?

The young magician, who was in the position of supervisor, looked at his confused face and explained with a smile, “Teacher… No, the mayor is going to organize an exchange group to visit the Void Mask Land. First, it’s to set a goal for you guys, to let you know what we are going to build Pyroxene Town into; second, it’s to hold an important ceremony in the recently built Void Mask Land. As an excellent worker in the town, the mayor feels you are entitled to attend the ceremony.”

Then Reif understood. He thought about it for a while and asked, “What kind of ceremony is it?”

The supervisor recalled what the mayor had said and was somewhat confused. “The mayor said it was a retirement ceremony. I don’t know what that means, either.”

He didn’t understand, but in fact, even the mayor of Pyroxene Town, Felix, wasn’t very clear herself.

She only knew that His Majesty Void Mask had once asked the Void Mask Land and the Pyroxene Town to collect statistics on the ages of their workers. Once a worker reached the age of 50, she was to inform His Majesty about it. Then a retirement ceremony would be held in time to commend those who had contributed their youth to the construction of the Hill.

But the Void Mask Land had been built less than 20 years before, so even if there was someone over 50 years old, they could have only worked there since their thirties. Was that anything to be said about someone’s whole youth?

There was one more thing that Jose couldn’t understand: what if a worker was over 50 years old? No matter where, according to the tradition, unless the worker was too old to work, they had to continue to work, and if they couldn’t work anymore, they would be fired and lose their source of income.

His Majesty Void Mask had specially prepared a retirement ceremony. What did retirement mean? Did it mean to literally retire from a post and rest at home? Who would want to retire with nothing happening? Once one left their post, they wouldn’t be paid!

Or… His Majesty Void Mask wanted to offer an allowance to the elderly people who were too old to work? Of course, it wasn’t impossible. Just like in their tribe before, if there had been enough food, they had also given a share to the elderly who couldn’t work, but hadn’t that been a common thing? Why would there be a special ceremony?

Similar to that, many people had such speculations and doubts. No one knew what the ceremony meant or what His Majesty was going to do, except for Mrs. Tiger, who was actually in charge of the whole thing.

“Your Majesty Void Mask, I have to admit that you are the kindest and most generous God I have ever seen!” Looking at the document Sui Xiong had compiled by himself, she was filled with emotion and excitement, and even her hands trembled. “Such a system… Such an approach… I’ve never expected…”

“Nothing is easy in the beginning.” Sui Xiong casually made a true remark, looking at the square, where a high platform was being built, and said with a laugh, “I start it, and then it will be easy for others in the future. Just follow my example.”

“There are so many kind Gods, but none of them have thought of your way.”

“Everyone thinks in different ways. It doesn’t mean that I’m that smart.” Sui Xiong smiled and said, “If you have to say at any point that I’m more advanced than them, perhaps… I’m standing on the shoulders of giants.”

“On the shoulders of giants?”

Sui Xiong laughed again and was too lazy to explain the allusion to Newton, a great scientist from earth. He said, “After today, it’s certain that this practice will be widely studied by all kind Gods. I’ve made a little contribution to the progress of the world, as well.”

“This is much more than ‘a little’!”

“Haha! Just a little bit…” Sui Xiong laughed and didn’t explain anything. He was planning to do that at the ceremony. He had to add “I feel ashamed” at the beginning of the speech, and then finish the speech with “thank you all.”

Anyway, he had space-traveled to a new world, and no one would understand the jokes made by netizens from the earth, anyway…

Suddenly, he was stunned and remembered something.

In this world, there was an Old Fairy Temple in the Ancient Forest, which was the birthplace of the Goddess of Life according to tradition. The temple was old, but the bricks and tiles were so strong that even the great magicians couldn’t break them at all. There was a Spring of Life in the temple. Next to it lived an immortal old sage who looked like a frog and was honored as the Elder Frog. It was said that this old sage had talked a lot and had gotten along well with the Goddess of Life at that time. He had been powerful enough to enter any level. In this vast world, many people had been lucky to meet him, drink his longevity wine, and listen to him tell stories.

When he had first heard about him, Sui Xiong had never given up his plan to visit this wonderful and visionary senior. However, there had been so many things going on over the years that he had forgotten about it.

No matter what, he was free now. Since the retirement ceremony would be in a few days, why couldn’t he send an avatar to go there right now?

He was now very active. Once he made up his mind on something, he would put it into practice immediately, so the avatar said goodbye to him in a hurry. He jumped into a ray of light, instantly leaped over rivers and mountains, and arrived at the Geerteng Hill. Then he flew up into the sky, galloping in the high air, which was full of heavy magic power, against the strong wind, and soon flew to the Ancient Forest.

However… Where was the Old Fairy Temple?

Looking down at the endless green forest stretching to the horizon, he was lost in his thoughts.

After a while, he gave up decisively and contacted Javier directly.

“Javier, do you know where the Old Fairy Temple is?”

Javier thought about it for a moment and said, “Its location isn’t fixed, and it often moves. I don’t know where it is now.”

“Is there any way you can find it?”

“Of course, there’s special magic method to find the temple.” After saying that, Javier sent the material of that method to Sui Xiong. “This is one of the magic methods inherited by the Elves. Masters of the Elves often used this method to go to the temple. The first reason is to worship, and the second is to seek advice… However, you suddenly want to find the Old Fairy Temple, are you going to the immortal elder to inquire about something?”

Sui Xiong laughed. “I’m just curious.”

Then he studied the uncomplicated material and quickly displayed the magic.

With the completion of the magic, a green light rose slowly, turning into a small road sign that pointed in a certain direction.

Sui Xiong immediately flew along the direction, but it was strange that the direction began to change slowly. If he hadn’t been paying attention to the road sign, he would have gone the wrong way.

Sui Xiong wasn’t confused by the change of direction. He flew firmly in the direction indicated by the road signs. After a period of time, the green light was suddenly shining in front of him. When the green light disappeared, he had arrived at an old but tidy temple that was full of life.

The temple was made of wood and stone. It wasn’t exquisitely built, but it had a harmonious aesthetic feeling. There were many plants in the temple that seemed to have been grown there. They were well integrated with the buildings in a natural and balanced way overall.

The temple was not big. Sui Xiong flew through it in a short time. He turned two corners and went through a hall. There, he saw a square shrouded in green light. In the middle of the square, a huge vine-like green tree soared into the clouds, spreading its crown over the entire temple. Under the tree, there was a clear spring. In the middle of the spring, there was a statue of a young girl holding a small vase in her hand with a smile. There was water spraying out of her vase.

The water mist was diffused in the air, merging with the green light and giving off a breath of fresh air. Just smelling it, Sui Xiong felt calm and couldn’t help smiling. He landed on the ground, slowly walking to the spring.

“Elder Frog, where are you?” As he was walking in, he looked for the legendary immortal sage, but after a while, he found no one who looked like a sage.

When he walked to the spring, he suddenly heard a laugh coming from the spring. “I’m here.”

Sui Xiong was surprised. He looked down and saw a tiny frog, the size of his thumb at most, lying on the surface of the water, alternately floating and sinking, with an old pair of glasses on his eyes. He looked quite strange.

This was the Elder Frog? He was too small!

The frog with glasses apparently saw his doubts. He jumped with a laugh onto a nearby branch. He took out an amazingly small cup that was actually filled with hot tea. He took a sip with a laugh and then asked, “What does size matter?”

Sui Xiong thought about it for a while and shook his head.

He wasn’t here for a fight. What did size matter?

He laughed, turning his body into almost the same size as the frog. At this moment, they were sitting on the branches of the big tree, which were too big for them to imagine.

“I’ve wanted to visit you for a long time, but I haven’t been free.” He said, “Not until today.”

“Well, now you see me.” The frog smiled and said, “What do you think of me?”

Sui Xiong thought for a long time and sighed. “Very ordinary.”

The frog laughed loudly and said, “I am ordinary.”

“I thought you would be a huge divine beast. Or a scholar-like frog, wearing a robe and holding a staff, living in a wooden house full of books, wearing a tall hat with a snow white beard…”

“Haha! How could there be such a frog?!”

Sui Xiong also couldn’t help laughing. “Yes, there are no frogs like that. I was overthinking it.”

The frog nodded and suddenly asked, “So, what do you think a jellyfish should look like?”

Sui Xiong was surprised and looked down at himself.

“Do you think you’re a jellyfish or a human?” the frog asked again.

Sui Xiong frowned and answered subconsciously, “I… I’m human.”

“Then why do you look like a jellyfish?”

“It’s convenient.”

The frog smiled, took out another cup of tea, and passed it to him.

Sui Xiong accepted the cup and took a sip. Before he had time to say anything, he saw the scene shaking in front of him. The green light flashing, the temple, the tree, and the frog disappeared without any trace. Only he himself was floating in the vast jungle, even the cup in his hand gone.

After thinking of several things, he displayed the magic of searching for the Ancient Fairy Temple, but this time, the green arrowhead was spinning wildly and couldn’t point out a clear direction.

Sui Xiong pondered for a long time and finally looked up to the sky and laughed. He flew up into the sky and headed for the Void Mask Land.

“Elder Frog, I’ll come back and have a cup of tea with you next time!”