Hermit Wizard - Chapter 59

The world’s worst offense, is called Love.

500 years ago, Chen Xi was devoured by a crack in the void and was transported into a cultivation world.

500 years later, he returned back to Earth after enduring through several hardships and discovered that only 5 years had gone by.

…

In the courtyard, beauty at the side, a candle flame wavering.

A gush of clear wind, half a full moon, the peach tree remains unchanging.

…

Wait, whose kid is this?! Why is she calling me papa? Gazing at the little girl in front of him with skin as pale as jade, Chen Xi froze.

…

　
Returning home from cultivation, starting as a stay-at-home dad.

In this life, not fighting to be a king nor claiming to be a tyrant, only praying to peacefully be a wife-pampering mad devil and a child-protecting daddy!

- Description from Novelupdates

I am currently re-writing the first chapters of this story. They are quite rough and bounce around a lot and I can do better. At some point, I will replace these with the better chapters.Sometime in 2024 Aethon Books will publish the first volume of this story on Amazon, KU, and audible. This will mean the story will be stubbed. I will notify people far in advance of that.In the dystopian world of the future, life is rough when you live at the bottom. Jobs are non-existent. Far too many people live in poverty, crammed into huge buildings called Habitats. With no jobs in the real world, many people can only find work online in VR worlds as servants to the very rich. And it's getting worse. The old internet is unusable and hacked to pieces. The new system needs AI to run things, but all but one of them were destroyed. The last sentient AI is ordered to create a new game world so the rich can have a playground, and the corporations that rule the world can have a new global market place. Everyone wants a piece of the new game. The guilds are competing to be the first to find the dungeons and kill the biggest monster. The corporations are claiming land and putting in their online market places. Ozzy and his friends just want a paycheck.Four friends sign five year contracts as virtual serfs in a small village, and can't go adventuring at all to gain money. They don't have many choices. They can work as a blacksmith, barmaid and shepherd for all those years....or they can cheat and find ways to take advantage of the system and carve out a section of the game world for themselves, and earn a fortune in the real world.When they give you a mop and not a sword, you have to find the loopholes and change the rules.

There once was a boy who was an orphan and suffered abuse from his village residents. The only friend he had was the dummy scarecrow on the field, whom he talked to. One day, a wealthy man brutally beat the boy. The next morning, the wealthy man was found dead, and the scarecrow was covered in blood. Terrified, the villagers were convinced that the scarecrow had come to life to avenge its tormented friend. And it was the last scarecrow ever placed again in the fields, considering it a sign of death. — After scarecrow dolls begin appearing in the streets of Riddleford next to murder victims, the town is thrown into chaos.When the hunt for the mystery scarecrow murderer begins, it is only a matter of time before the famous Frontier Hall Opera House employees are subjected to suspicion, each protecting a secret of their own. But is that all that is going on? Or is there something unseen?