Happy 1 year anniversary to my Hermitcraft Daycare book!! Woo! 👏

You know? I find it quite amusing that the first chapter I published was on August 14, 2020, and now I'm publishing the FIRST chapter that takes place in season 8 on August 15, 2021...

Noice- 👌

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Hermitcraft 7 was an incredibly fun season, but sometimes that kind of fun wouldn't last forever. It was time to say goodbye to season 7. They left these seasons either satisfied with their work or regretful of the potential that could've been achieved if only they had a little more time. 

Ending the season is like a furnace-powered minecart of bittersweet emotions, but as long as the young hermits are in a safer place than season 7, then that was enough to lighten the heavy load weighing their chest..

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"Are we there yet?" 

The bloody aproned hermit sighed. "No, XB." 

"Ohh." XB kept quiet, gazing around his surroundings. He pouted as he tugged the poor hermit's hand. "Are we there yet?" 

"XB- I said no." 

"Awww" Young XB leaned onto Beef's arm, tugging it like a pillow. 

The young hermits felt their feet drag through the dirt, leaving behind marked shoe tracks for mother nature to keep. They were tired and sluggish. They could all literally transform into slugs on the spot and the older hermits wouldn't even blame them! It's been absolutely tiring! 

Young Jevin's the only 'awake' one of the group, sprinting ahead of everyone with excitement while his friends just stare at him in disbelief. 

"Well, at least he gets to drain all his energy before bedtime ." Hypno chuckled weakly. 

"Etho, you're going to have to walk from here.. My arms are already tired." 

"But 'I'm' tired.. " Etho mumbled on his shoulder. He whined as Beef dragged him back to the ground. 

"Don't worry love," Stress said with a smile on her face, walking past the young ninja to give him a head pat. "We're almost there." 

Etho continued to groan, but gave his dear auntie Stress a nod. 

"Pssst, Etho!" Doc took this opportunity to sprint past the two older hermits, scoop up the young Ninja onto his shoulders and snatch him away before Beef could even stop him. 

"Want a piggyback ride?" Doc smirked at the kid above his head. The young ninja eagerly nodded as he squished his face onto the brunette's hair as a pillow. 

"Doc nO-" 

Young Cub observed the banter between Etho and uncle Doc. He let go of Falsey's hand and sprinted to the other side of the older knight. 

"Uncle Wels?" 

"Hmm?" 

A small smile formed on the young Cub's face. "Can I have a horsey ride?" 

"... Cub wHY-" 

When one travels to a new and far away server, it's never this amusing. Despite their already drained energy from waking up at 5 am in the morning to traveling/walking probably 4 hours or more through the main world, everyone's [including the young hermits] interactions through this trip was still amusing. 

Not chaotic, but still amusing. 

"I see the portal." Cleo waved from the front, pointing at the small, obsidian structure in the distance. 

Jevin, of course, runs off first to the portal. Only to leave his poor chicken behind. 

"J-Jevin!? Don't go in yet!" Hypno pushes through the crowd of tired hermits, scoops up the abandoned chicken of Doom and runs after the tiny slime in the distance. 

"How in the world do those two have this much energy after walking for about 4-" Zedaph pauses to look at his clock, "5 hours?"

"Pfft- those two are just built differently, Zed." 

Doc shrugs. 

"Says the guy constantly giving piggyback rides to all the kids ever since the trip even started." 

Doc smirks as he walks past the hermit, quickly snatching young Tango from Zedaph’s hold before running off with him and Etho in his arms. 

"I-what o- DOC!!" 

Zed immediately scooped up young Impulse and chased after the creeper cyborg in the distance. 

"And yet he had the audacity to ask how Hypno and Jev got their energy," Cleo scoffed. 

Hermits started retrieving the other young hermits from the uncles and aunties they wanted to hang out with [mainly from Doc] and brought them closer to the portal. 

"Uncle Keralis," Young TFC tugged Keralis' hand. "I don't want to go into the purple light again." 

"It's going to be fine TFC," Keralis reassured. "You did it before!" 

"But the light is too bright, and it makes my stomach funny.." Young Xisuma whined. 

Keralis sighed as he brought the two closer to his arms. "How about this? This time let's try closing our eyes, that way you won't see the purple light?"

"What about my stomach?" 

"It will only take a sec, I promise." Keralis hugged the two closer. The two tucked their faces into his shirt as they wrapped the arms around his waist. Keralis brought both of his hands onto their hands and slowly led them to the portal..

"CUB!?? Don't go without me again!" 

"But the purple light feels funny," Young Cub giggled as he entered the portal. 

Wels caught up to the young pharaoh along with False before his whole vision swirled to a twisty purple void..

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The world slowly loaded in, the bright blue sky started covering the whole place before the grass started coming to view. They all found themselves in a small village, next to an ominous swamp. 

Young hermits awed at their new environment while older hermits observed their surroundings, looking for the resources they predictably were going to grab. 

Hypno, the first hermit who entered the portal along with young Jevin, already crafted wooden fences. Jevin carried said wooden fences, while Hypno started placing down the wooden objects through the dirt until he finally isolated a small patch of land. 

"This," Hypno gestured at his closed off fence, "is their crib." He did not even hold back his smile. 

"Crib- but I'm not a baby-" Jevin was quickly cut off as Hypno lifted up the young slime and placed him inside. "Now you are," Hypno teased as young Jevin pouted. 

"Uhh- Hypno? What's the 'crib' for?" 

Hypno looked at the hermits in disbelief. "Surely you guys aren't going to bring the kids to unexplored areas, right? Where there's a large percentage of death and danger across the horizon?.." 

"....." 

"Surely not?" Hypno looked skeptical at the older hermits. 

"I mean… I do have the scariest pvp player by my side-" 

"WELS!??" 

"Kidding! Kidding!" Wels fried out as he failed to hold back his laughter. The other hermits, amused by this, laughed along. 

"But seriously, Hypno does have a point" Cleo finally spoke up. 

"Thank you." 

"This place is still very unknown to us. We may be familiar with the dangers of minecraft, and we may all know how to protect them, but I don't think anyone wants to risk a possible perma death upon the kids..For now, we'll leave someone to watch the young hermits while everyone else will find a place to build a starter base. How does that sound? "

Everyone looked at each other for a few good seconds before silently nodding. 

" Don't tell me you're going to stay behind to watch them all, Cleo?" Beef looked worriedly at the female zombie.

" You say that like I didn't handle all of these kids in the daycare for 2 months straight." Cleo scoffed. 

"What about your starter base? You and Joe are going to be struggling to find a place to sleep before night time even arrives." 

"In that case, I volunteer to watch over the young hermits." a female voice spoke up from the crowd. She hid her hands into the pockets of her black hoodie jacket and walked up to the two hermits. 

"Pearl? You'll do it?" 

"Yep." 

"Are-" Cleo paused for a bit, "Are you sure?" 

"I've helped you with the daycare twice before so I can handle it. And besides," Pearl turned towards the direction of a certain hermit,  "I'll probably crash at Grian’s starter base anyway so there's no need to worry where me and Gem will take refuge." 

"I'm sorry wha-" 

"That's settled then. Pearl shall take charge of the kids. We'll all meet up here before the sun sets then we can take them back to our starter bases." Hypno ruffled Jevin's head before heading off to the east. 

"Good luck!" Zed waved at the hermits before following Hypno. 

"I shall be back," Keralis gave young TFC and Xisuma a hug as he led the two inside the fence then started walking to the west. 

"Wait- Pearl!? What do you mean you're crashing in my bas-" 

"Come on G! Let's go!" Doc exclaimed as he and Stress wrapped their arms around Grian's. The cod boi struggled as the two dragged him towards the north before he could even have a chance to talk to Pearl. 

All Pearl could do was send him a smug face as she listened to Cleo's quick explanation. 

"Alright Pearl. If you need help, Joe will gladly help you calm down the kids if they start getting chaotic. If Joe does get dragged into the chaos, then TFC will be your second option. But if TFC specifically gets dragged into Mumbo and Iskall's shenanigans, then you're on your own. "

'How very reassuring..' Pearl thought. 

Cleo smirks at the new hermit." Don't worry Pearl, they all know when not to push your limits. You'll do okay. "

The zombie female bid Pearl farewell and walked off to the West along with Wels. The new hermit was now all on her own.. 

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--Pearl's POV--

A few hours have passed since the hermits left. I observed the kids as they all were in their own little groups, either talking about stuff or just laying there doing nothing. 

I rested my chin on the fence, lost in thought. 

"Come on Tango! It will be fun!" Gemini, the only enthusiastic kid in the group, tried desperately to play rock, paper, scissors with Tango, but failed. 

"I don't want to play.." Tango mumbled. 

"Ohh." Gem frowned. 

Tango now felt bad.. He picked himself from the grass and brought the young new hermit into an embrace. "We can play later.." 

Jevin, who used to be the energetic one during our 5 hour walk through the main world, also laid on the grass. Curled up into a small blue ball, watching Doom poke his beak through the wooden fence..

"I'm bored," He mumbled. 

"Do you want to play something?" I asked, walking up to the other side of the fence. 

"Hmm… no thank you." He declined politely as he continued to watch his chicken. I kneeled closer to the young slime, patting his slimy blue head. 

Jevin continued to stare at Doom as the chicken strayed near the corner of the fence. Finally accepting my presence, the young slime slid closer to my side and rested his tiny blue head on my knee. 

He stared at the chicken for a bit till something caught the slime's eye. 

Jevin lifted his head from my leg, looking curiously at the direction of the chicken. His eyes widened, jumping excitedly from his position and ran to the edge of the fence. "Auntie Pearl! Look!!" 

"Wait Jev- don't climb on the fence! Please!" I ran up to the kid and brought my hands onto Jevin's tiny shoulders. The kid leaned into my hands, accepting my support. "Auntie Pearl, look." He pointed his blue finger at the random chicken outside the fence. 

The random chicken stared blankly at Doom, both chickens' were locked onto each other. I looked back at Jevin, who's eyes were filled with joy and excitement. 

"Doom has a new friend!" He whispered quite loudly to my ear. 

"I see." I chuckled. 

The smile quickly left Jevin's face as he stared blankly at the two chickens, separated from the wooden fence. The chickens started clucking softly, flapping their wings around the air. 

"... I think the new chicken wants to come inside and meet Doom." Jevin stated.

"You can speak chicken?" a voice from behind spoke up. XB jumped towards the fence, bumping shoulders with me and Jev. I brought one hand from Jevin's right shoulder and rested it onto XB's. 

"No.." Jevin mumbled, but a warm smile formed back onto his face. "But I know Doom wants a chicken friend. He feels lonely because I don't play the chicken games he likes. 

Chicken games?.. 

" Auntie Pearl," XB tugged my right shoulder. " Can we bring Doom's chicken friend inside the fence? "

" Ooh! Can we, Auntie Pearl!!?" Jevin's eyes sparkled as he looked like me. 

I found myself chuckling as I carried the two kids back on the ground. "Why not. Just give me a second." 

The two cheered on as I climbed up the fence and landed on the ground. But the new chicken found my presence quite upsetting and quickly booked it! 

"Nooo! The chicken is running away!" 

"Don't worry, I'll get him." I gave the two kids a quick smirk. I cut off a few patches of grass until I obtained the item I needed. I ran up to the chicken as it strayed farther to the forest. "Pssst, here chicken chicken. Come here!" I cooed at the chicken, dropping a few seeds.

Leaves started rustling from the trees, something hid between the trees. "Chicken, oh chicken." I whispered. "Where are you?" 

Suddenly the small creature walked up from its hiding spot. The chicken turned its back and noticed the seed trail, eating up the path of seeds. I took the opportunity to scoop up the chicken and walked back to the fence. 

"You got the chicken!!" Jevin cheered. 

"Here you go." I jumped over the fence and handed Jevin the chicken. 

"Oh! A new chicken!" Gem announced to everyone. This caught the attention of the tired young hermits as they surrounded the slimy boi and the two chickens. 

"Chicken!" 

"Can we eat it?" 

"Scar nO!" 

"That wasn't me, that was Jellie!" He exclaimed. He puffs up his chest and starts scolding the poor cat. "Jellie, we're not going to eat our new friend." 

"Can we name the chicken?" Young Joe asked curiously. 

"Let's name him Dylan!" 

"No Iskall! You already gave Doom a name!" 

"How about Milk? Milk sounds cute." Young Cub suggested. 

"That's a drink." Bdubs pointed out. 

"Ohh! Tiimmy the chicken!" 

As the kids bicker about the chicken's new name, I excused myself from the crowd of young hermits surrounding the poor chickens and rested on the edge of the fence. I watched them run around each other, debating pet names, playing with the new chicken duo. 

"Hey Pearl," a voice called out from behind. 

I turned around to greet the approaching hermit. "Ahhh, Hypno. You're back early." 

Like really early… It's not even close to sunset. 

Hypno hummed, leaning his chest closer to the wooden fence. "Wait, is that another chicken?" He asked in disbelief. 

The hermit scoffed as he found his hand brushing his own hair. "Jev' s going to make a chicken farm for me at this rate." 

"I don't think he would like the idea of you eating Doom's babies.." 

"... True." 

"Hmm.." I had a thought.. I raised my hand to scratch my chin, curiously observing the chickens in the fences. I looked around for the closest birch forest, then looked back at Hypno. 

Hypno looked back, confused by my continuous glare.. "Pearl?" he called out. 

I snapped out of my thought process. "Hypno," I gave the hermit a smirk, "Do you mind getting some materials for me?" 

"Uhh-sure. But I already have a lot of materials from my exploration though, so you can just use my materials instead.. Why?.." 

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The sun started setting and night time was coming dangerously soon. Keralis sighed as he strolled through the forests, slouching as he walked. He needed to pick up young Xisuma and TFC from spawn. Then after that, they can have a meal  then some good night's sleep. 

He nearly missed the bright lights in the distance. The closer he walked towards the spawn, the brighter the lights were. A white-yellowish structure came into view. He had to constantly rub his eyes to see if he's hallucinating or not, but he's pretty sure that he's looking at a giant egg. 

'A giant egg… that sounds delicious.' Keralis thought 

Once he arrived, Keralis finally took a step back to look at the new egg-like structure at spawn.. This… this looks new. 

"Ahh, Keralis!" Hypno came out from the building, giving me a big wave. 

"... What's with the giant egg?" Keralis asked bluntly. 

"G-Giant Egg?!" Pearl snorted as she appeared out of nowhere. 

"Sorry Pearl. I just..tired-" he stifled a yawn to give the new hermit a considerate smile. 

"I'll take the giant egg as a compliment. It was one of my inspirations for this new daycare after all." 

"Wait… Daycare?" 

The two arms grabbed his two arms and led him inside the egg-like building. Keralis' droopy eyes soon widened back to beautiful eyes that we all know and love about Keralis. 

"Y-You actually made a new daycare? This early in the season?" 

"Me AND Hypno made the daycare together. Do you like it?" 

Keralis took a quick look around the place. Birch blocks covered the whole place, the spruce blocks detailed the walls, and the portal exit to the main world was carefully closed off away from the young hermits' reach. Closed off, but still accessible for the older hermits.. Just!.. Wow. 

Speaking of the young hermits, 4 were spotted hanging around on the floor. Young Xisuma and TFC, the ones that Keralis was going to pick up, rested next to the spruce wall, with two chickens occupying their laps. Young Jevin and Gemini just laid there on the floor, talking one with another. The rest of the young hermits probably left with the older hermits. 

"Pearl's, Hypno, I don't know what to say…" Keralis looked at the two hermits and pulled them to a big, warm hug. "This is breathtaking!" 

"Aww, thanks Keralis." Pearl returned the hug. 

"You still didn't explain to me why the new daycare looks like a big egg though." Hypno pointed out. 

" I'll be honest Hypno, I'm not sure myself!" 

All Hypno could do was scoff at the new hermit. 

"You could say, this was in honor of the chicken that I caught today." 

"I think Jevin would like that." Hypno smiled softly. 

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Sooo… Chicken names? What's a good chicken name for our new chicken friend? 

From now on, I'll add the list of hermits every time I end a chapter. In case no one can catch up with which hermit has who. 

[Updated] Hermit List:

Zedaph: (Tango, Impulse) 

Wels: (Cub, False) 

Keralis: (, TFC, Xisuma) 

Cleo: (Joe) 

Beef: (XB, Etho) 

Grian: (Ren, Scar) 

Hypno: (Jevin) 

Stress: (Iskall, Mumbo) 

Doc: (Bdubs) 

Pearl: (Gemini) 

Evil Xisuma: (Welsknight)