Honey, I've Leveled the Kids [Family-Focus, LitRPG - COMPLETE]

The good day earlier of sitting down, eating snacks, and talking felt like a distant reality as life came crashing fast at me. Again. I didn't know what to do next. There were a few hours before Elaine needed to be picked up from school, and I wanted to capture the stillness and joy of earlier one more time.

I looked around to see if Tristan wanted to go for a hike and catch bugs. Checking his room, I found clothes all over the ground like a thief was looking through the closest and hidden drawers for a precious item. There was no Tristan, though.

"Tristan?" I called out in the hallway. Ghost wandered beside me. "Do you know where he is?"

The dog did not reply. Elaine's organized room made it a simple check to see that the younger brother wasn't in there.

I passed the bathroom and then got to the office, where I heard the whirring sound of a small capsule running. Further inspection showed the small boy already in the game.

"Yes," I cheered to myself. "Guess the talks must've worked for you if you got into the game on your own. I'll be there shortly after I finish being responsible."

To play video games:

[X]Buy snacks

[X] Dishes cleaned

[ ]dishes put away (must wait for them to dry, or hand towel)

There was something else I had to do, but I couldn't remember what. Checking on the bathroom, I flushed the toilet and confirmed that it worked. I grabbed the last hand towel in the linen closest to dry the bathroom floor. New item to add to the list.

[X] Bathroom disaster cleaned up.

"Good enough. I'll do the laundry tomorrow." I told Ghost, feeling unease I was still missing something. "Any other chores will cause me to get too far behind from Tristan. Guard the house, boy."

Ghost took the command, along with his dog chew stick, as I climbed into my capsule.

I smiled, proud of what I had done still for today. I had one happy kid at least.

-----

Getting into the game was easy and nauseatingly fast again. The dim lights of the city Purge made the transition easier. I was back where I logged out, near the merchants. Quickly, I sorted through my inventory, getting rid of anything low tier and that I had a lot of, like rat pelts and tails. I sold a lot of broken materials too until I finally passed two-hundred gold. I might need the rest of my items later. Now I could pay back Naiad when she logs in later.

As I made my way to the guild exchange near the town hall, I debated about turning on my stream. There was a spike in subscribers, and being online more often would help with gaining even more of them.

I shook my head at the tempting thought.

Today was only about Tristan and I didn't want to miss anymore. I left the stream off to focus only on him.

The city hall of Purge was a single story building that curved around the pillars that stood in the center of town. The city looked busy with people all wearing the same head garb moving about the street. However, the repetitive flow made it obvious which person the player could interact with. This city bustled with NPCs. Which meant this was a small town, a go between stop between the larger city quests. Only another reason I didn't want to spend too much time here.

The guild exchange entrance only had a few players going in and out of it. Blue light shimmered around the portal, flickering as people came and left. I needed my guild insignia in order to enter. It was a small red cherry shrimp on top of a green leaf. The portal wavered at reading my pin, then allowed me to enter and go meet up with Triangle.

Again, Seconds-Over had the worst transitions of any game. They needed to set up a transition walking path or something. The air in the guild hall smelled like a curry mixture, and mixed with a lot of burned… everything. My tongue tasted sour from the smell.

At least the guild looked clean.

[Guild Chat]

[CheezWiz: Yo! Boulder, what are you doing on at this time of day?]

[Boulder: Here to hang out with Triangle.]

[Triangle: :P]

[CheezWiz: Haha! Awesome! The kid has been leveling up hardcore these last few days. I was debating about buying him an alchemy hood.]

[Boulder: We'll get that upgrade next. Have a good one. I want to hang out with him only.]

[CheezWiz: See ya.]

I crossed the practice area and entered the shed that hosted Triangle's alchemy station. It neighbored his level three tinkering workshop. The alchemy station was level one. Burn marks specked at Triangle's red hat. The tip was completely missing. He happily hummed to himself as he worked. He was completely out of tune, but its beat matched whatever he was stirring about.

He tipped a glass back and forth, looking at the fluid, and noticing me through the glass on the other side.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Dad! Look, I'm making those heal bleed potions. I'm trying to break my record of how fast I can make them."

A timer appeared above his head. Grabbing glassware, he clinked the sides and set them down over a burner, then he mashed a collection of herbs. Bit by bit, he added a deep red liquid to the vials and made more. In the small shed, he easily hopped about, setting up three different batches of the potion. In one corner was a slow drip going into a bowl that wobbled about, creating a shiny glaze on the surface.

I walked over to it, but he hissed at me like a feral cat.

"Can you stay out?" He suggested.

"Ah, sorry." I moved back to the entrance. The shed was small with both of us in it. I pointed to the glaze. "What's that for?"

"Um, it's a sunscreen?" There wasn't much confidence in his voice.

"Do you have the recipe card?"

The half-gnome pointed next to the sunscreen batch, staying focused on his task.

"Sorry." I whispered. I hated it when the kids interrupted my focus time and I should respect his time and watch him.

The part that surprised me the most was seeing him clean the station as he went. Even if there was an odd smell in the shed, it was at least clean. With quick hands, he moved about, racing the timer above his head. He had twenty potions made now and two minutes remaining. The way his hands moved meant he spent some dexterity points. I looked at his stats, surprised at his level.

>>><<<

Player Name: Triangle

Level: 10

Race: Half-gnome and half-human

Class: Tinker-Alchemist

Earned Titles: A Surprise in a Jar

Affiliations: Goblin's Apprentice

Status Buffs: Fast hands II

>>><<<

That's how he was doing the speed. I clapped once he was done and said. "Smart trick drinking a potion. Did you make speed potions?"

"No, it was my last one. I need to figure out how to make it still. Ma'am Q only said it's shaken, not stir it. Even with drinking it, I couldn't figure out the components."

"Who's Ma'am Q?" I avoided touching anything on his station as he moved about cleaning up the potion creation.

"She's the bug lady I told you about." Triangle's shoulders slumped.

I held my mouth shut as I thought about who the bug lady was and when he mentioned her. My eyes darted about at the station. How was there a bug lady and alchemy potions? "Oh!" I exclaimed. "You really wandered into a fish bait store in the middle of the city?"

"Y-e-a-h." He exaggerated the word.

"No wonder there are hardly any potions outside of the general market store. No alchemist is going to look in a fish store. Then again, I found my shield in a pottery shop. The game is keeping us on our toes."

Triangle went up on tippy-toes and smiled as he point the last potions into a crate. He moved over to the clean crafting station to begin a new potion by adding water initially from a flask and then dry powder. Slowly, he poured in a faintly yellow liquid. He looked up at me, smiling, "You can talk. I'm using up all the ingredients before selling in town."

"You made over twenty potions there. That was fast."

He nodded, "Yup! A new record. Adding the dexy points helped."

Glancing at his stats again, I asked my original question. "You've leveled too. What quests have you been working on?"

There were so many questions I wanted to know. To know where he was and where he was going and if I could come along. To put his fun first and to stop missing out on it.

"Um," the young boy started, "I got quests from Ma'am Q. She really likes it when I let Goldy water her garden. Oops!"

The potion he was working over filled and creeped over to me and the burner of another batch. Before the liquid could ruin it, I put my arm down to block it. The deep red, yellow liquid absorbed into my sleeve.

>>><<<

[Buff: Your arm has 0.5% resistance to bleed effects.

Duration: 5 minutes

WARNING: You are in a guildhall and not in the same zone as this potion. This status effect will not follow you when you leave.]

>>><<<

"Do you have a straw so I can drink this up?" I joked with Triangle.

A small metal straw appeared in his hand. "Here you go."

As he came near, I took the straw and the towel in his hand. "I'll clean up so you can focus on finishing."

Loudly, I blew bubbles in the spilled potion. Large ones stacked on top of each other like it was the ultimate bubble bath solution. It should be safe to drink. The taste of strawberries was prominent in the drink, better tasting than the tangy tasting, lesser healing potions from the general store.

The timer above Triangle's head finally pinged for the potion to finish, and I had the place… better. Definitely not spotless.. The towel couldn't hold all the liquid that overflowed, and it left red streaks in places.

"Fairy, please help!" Triangle called out.

The little blue light darted into place, and she spun around, landing on his station. Her light shimmered, blinding me momentarily, and then it dimmed, leaving the station streak free and spotless.

The fairy landed on Triangle's hat, and cleaned the tip back to red, but it was still missing the point. Triangle smiled and waved. "Thank you."

"I didn't realize she would clean the stations." I felt like my help was now useless.

"She likes the flavors I make, but only on the finished potions. It's fun when people like what I make. Thanks for cleaning." Triangle said. He offered out a greater healing potion. "Do you want it?"

"Your liquid bandaid potion was yummy, and I bet this one is just as delicious. But…" I didn't want to hurt him and tell him what was going on. He would be sad to know we weren't around. I didn't even know how to get back to Fanamel.

Leith's words threatened me to change. "Your family will suffer by your own doing."

I would prove her wrong by being honest with Naiad and Triangle and listen to them. Triangle would hurt even more if I dragged this out and didn't tell him the truth. "Sorry, we're still in hell. I'll swing by the main guild hall to pick it up once I get back to Fanamel."

The half-gnome lowered the potion stash, arms drooping. "You're not here? Like how CheezWiz isn't?"

"No."

"Then how do we test the monster vision potion?"

I chewed my lip, thinking how to get the item to me — no, how to get myself to him. My thinking had to change with the game. "Sorry. We're in hell, somehow. I don't know how to get back home yet."

Triangle didn't reply. He gently set the healing potions aside. I walked over to read the recipe card for the sunscreen.

[Light Resistance Potion: Light attacks will do less damage. Percentage based on quality of potion]

The recipe included complicated steps. It talked about exposing the materials to light and layering them before mashing. Precise weighing had to be done to complete it.

"This is impressive! You can make this?" I praised him.

He sighed, "No, I keep trying."

"Can I help?" I glanced at him. His cheeks matched his hat in color. He held a crate full of potions he made in ten minutes, silent. I was the big dad, full of scary adventures coming into his safe place. He needed more control. I offered another suggestion. "You know, I could learn from you on how to be focused on a task, and how all these doohickeys work to make those pretty tasting potions."

Excitement replaced fear on Triangle's face. "You can be my helper like I am to the goblin?"

"Yep!"

He ran over to his workshop and showed me all the various items he had created and wanted help in solving the problems he had with the bubble wash formula, the issues with the Light Resistance Potion. I told him about the items we saw in hell and how I would bring back ingredients for him to work with.

After a day like this, my future plan would account for more one-on-one gaming time with Triangle. I had to get out of hell faster.