The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned - Chapter 254

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.

«Ding! You’ve received the [Human Archer (Stage 2)] and has activated the 10,000x bonus. You have received the [Flame God Archer (Stage 10)].»

The Prea gods, who saved humanity from living as slaves to other races and established the human empire, passed down their bloodline. Those who inherited their blood were born with magical talent and could become wizards. After thousands of years, the empire fell, and the world became ruled by great masters across different regions.He was a young man who grew up with his mother, never knowing who his father was. Though he possessed tremendous magical abilities, he lived as a shepherd in a rural village. Now he ventures out into the world to discover the secrets of his bloodline.

“I was born as a princess in the most powerful lineage in the world… but that lineage is now on the verge of collapse.”In a kingdom where strength is everything, royal blood has long ceased to produce true powerhouses. Sects and clans are just waiting for our family to show weakness so they can tear us apart.But this lineage is not dead yet.He is still here.A being feared even by the strongest cultivators.The only reason this kingdom still stands.And me?If I want to survive in a world where only power matters… I must become a monster feared by all.