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

Back in the town of Purge, I already lost Naiad emotionally and now physically she was gone. She must've sprinted away from the guild exchange hall. I glanced around and couldn't spot her brilliant pink hair in the sea of earth colored balaclavas in the street.

She was gone. I took off running, keeping an eye of the sky on the four pillars in the sky, their vibrant orange and silver colors acting as a direction point in this dead world.

[Team Chat]

[Boulder: Hey wait up]

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[Warning! You can't message the living while in this land.]

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"Well, I'm glad she's not dead yet," I mumbled.

It meant that Leith didn't take her. A full day had passed, and we still kept the seed a secret from the gods, only. A week left to go… Could we even grow a tree in that time? How would we do that with all knowing creatures? How did we avoid their attention? I should've talked about that more with the kids.

I ran to catch up to the more dexterous, better listener and note taker, Naiad. I had a lot to learn from my kids.

Jogging through the town, more people pointed at me, surprised at me not wearing the balaclava headpiece. I caught up to Naiad at the pillars. She exchanged gold at a terminal with a NPC, who then pointed to someone holding a heavy magic tome.

"Your payment is complete." The channeler said with a head tilt and used their tome to point. "Please step to the side and wait the three minutes for me to create your portal."

I was panting when I came up next to Naiad. "Want to go shopping before the portal is ready?"

"Is this man with you?" The mage looked at the NPC and terminal for information. "If so, I need to increase the cost and rate of magic."

"Nope," Naiad crossed her arms. "He's busy entertaining other people."

I frowned. "The streams off. I want to talk to you, to work with you and apologize."

Naiad's defensive position changed from anger to hugging herself. "Oh."

I wanted to hug her too, but knew I had to give her space to come to me after my screw up. "You're the one who saw our initial footprints in hell and guided us out there. I'm sorry it took me this long to realize it. I'm seriously mad at myself for Leith's deal. We have to report to Chiliam soon and maybe while we talk to him, he can help save you."

Naiad shook her head. "Thanks. I heard how you tried taking my spot instead."

"I will find an answer to free you. I love you and want us to keep playing together, not be stuck here in hell."

Naiad tugged on her braid. "Actually, Triangle sent me a bunch coin so I can get back to Fanamel. It took a lot."

The portal bloomed to life suddenly in front of Naiad. It shimmered and warped around with colors of green and blue. The guards next to the channeler pointed their weapons at me. "Move back."

I obeyed and kept my hands up. Guess I could steal a portal if I planned it carefully.

"Because of the recent magical laws and protections of the city," the channeler player next to us said, "I can only take you near the forest, not into the city."

I pouted at the player. "This is a private conversation."

The player tapped his head. "Could've done it in messages or talked somewhere else."

I really had to get a balaclava. Naiad continued talking, "I gave him one of these mushrooms and flowers from the Peaceful Prairie to get myself back, plus three-thousand gold coins."

"That's highway robbery."

"I can only cast the spell twice a week and it only works for three players." Mumbled the channeler. "T-minus two minutes until the portal closes."

"Naiad," I called to my daughter. "You still have your quest with the bird, right?"

She nodded. "I have to give him these plants before my time is up in a few hours. We never found plants from here."

I dug out the vine and leaves I got earlier when we found the seed of Lady Branchelot. "Take these. Hopefully, it can help. Do you want the seed, too?"

"Hush!" She put a finger over her lips while grabbing the vine. "Shh, we need a code word about that. Call it the flower. We need dirt from hell before we plant it to keep it hidden, remember?"

I smirked. "Nope, but I'm glad you're on my team. Great job recalling that. What else? Oh, what about the shrooms?"

Naiad beamed at the recognition. "Yeah! Look into those while you're here. See if you can get any clues and get dirt. I don't think they're a luck base buff because hell sucked. Triangle and I will wrap up our class quests. I'll make him talk to the rabbit. He has a higher charisma stat too and might actually trick the god."

"There's no such thing as a luck stat." The channeler said in a flat voice. I gave him a glare, and he cleared his throat. "Less than two-minutes on the portal."

"Huh," I said. I thought the same thing initially, and now Naiad and this eavesdropper thought the same thing. "Yeah, I look around. Don't forget to pick up your bow from Foday."

I didn't say it aloud with the channeler nearby, but we also needed to get answers as to why Lady Branchelot, a guardian of a god, was so weak when we found her.

"I'll look too." She held up the vine. "Thanks for this. Are you sure this is okay for me to do the quest?"

I waved my hand. "You don't need to ask me. It's not my game, it's also yours. You're supposed to have fun and not have a mean dad dictating your every move. Sorry again about that. I look forward to learning about what you and Triangle do."

Naiad put the vine away and jumped up at me, arms out. I squeezed her tightly in a hug and whispered, "I love you."

"You too. Tristan was happy you spent today with him."

"Good luck, and see you soon." I nudged her back to the portal before it closed.

"Take these plants, so you can get home, too." She handed me a mushroom and more flowers from the Peaceful Prairie.

"Thanks. You do a good job keeping a lookout for everyone."

"Duh, I'm an archer." Naiad ran inside the portal, looking happier than I had seen her in days.

With her through, the portal closed up instantly. The channeler clapped his hands slowly and said in a flat tone, "What a heart-wrenching moment. Such a great dad, leaving your kids alone."

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

I glared at him and held my tongue. I was going to need him later to send me back to earth and didn't it to cost over three-thousand gold because I was a jerk. "Yeah, I already feel guilty about it."

I was a dad and alone. My kids were playing together, and I wanted to be there. My actions got us in this situation. I should've listened to Naiad from the beginning. We might've even snuck in and out of Hell better. If I hadn't been so obsessed with keeping a plan that kept the kids safe, I would've noticed how scared Triangle was sooner and actually got him.

I've said my words now. It was time for action and proof of my words.

The buzzing of the marketplace brought me comfort as I got back here. The general market bought a lot of my crap, but not enough to make three-thousand gold coins.

"That's fine. I have some research to finish here first." I mumbled to myself. It wasn't the same as bantering with the kids.

I went to the herbalist in town and collected random plants to give to Triangle. I looked for ones that had unique names.

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[(Item, rare) Silent Knight Leaf: This deep blue leaf is contrasted with its white spots, making it easy to recognize. If you live with other people or a lot of cats, this is something you want.]

[(Item, rare) New It: This herb can help you say what was on the tip of your tongue. This can help you comprehend information better from a book, too. If left to age, it will be yesterday's problem.]

[(Item, common) Just a Puff: This is an aromatic puff with a strong sweet smell that lizards that live near a shore, love.]

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With three different plants for him, I focused next on getting something for Naiad to help her out. The welcome sign of one store pictured of bows, quivers, and beads, with the letters Bow Tekes written across it.

I didn't know what a Tekes was, but the store was unique enough I figured it would be a good starting point to turn on my livestream.

"Hey everyone! Welcome, I need to finish doing some researching here in the city of Purge and earn some funds to get back home. Which means I need to be smart and restock my inventory before fighting monsters in this higher level zone. Plus, buy some items for my guild mates. So, let's check out this store."

As I opened the shop's cloth door, little wooden sticks above clattered together, alerting the shopkeeper. There were a few other players buying shopping. They glanced in my direction. One studied me, the other with shiny full knight armor smiled at seeing me. It was the first player I'd seen without the balaclava headpiece. Under his arm, he held his helmet. The other one wore light armor, covered with water and mud stains from the swamp.

"Yeah, I also went for a dip. I don't recommend." I called out to him.

The players smiled and then went back to looking at quivers.

"Welcome. Welcome. Welcome." A tall, broad orc approached me. Her husks capped with bronze tips complementing the glistening green painted on her lips. "How may I help you?"

"I'm looking for arrows, spells, or a quiver. Actually, I don't know what I want." I said openly. "It's for a guild mate who's not here."

The orc nodded and spoke in a French accent. "You came to the right place. Names, Bearita. You can buy the entire store if that's what you need. No complaints from me if you force a vacation on me."

It drew a small laugh from me. "The only way that happens is if I rob you. My teammate keeps running out of arrows in the fight."

"Not a problem if you have good gear like what they're holding." She pointed to the quiver in the archer's hands. "It cost you about twenty-two thousand coins. Saves you on a lot of arrows in the long run the sooner you buy it."

My coin needed to multiply by a few thousands to afford that. "That will not work."

"Do you want more damage to use less arrow?" The woman pointed at the wall of barbed arrows. "I doubt you want the quicker drawing power. It will only cause her to burn through arrows faster. Hmmm."

The arrow heads were nice, but would run out without an easy way to get back here. "You're right about the bow. What about ways to slow the enemy down?"

Bearita shook her head. "Oh, I don't help defenders here. If you want that, you run over to the wall and talk to the guardians there. I'm only about those doing offense."

I couldn't afford anything here. "You know, do you have a membership or punch card? I get a discount each time I walk through that door." I joked with the NPC in desperation to find something for Naiad.

The orc punched me in the arm with a laugh. "Punch card!"

She hit hard enough for points of my health to drop a bit. I cringed from the pain, my face only making her laugh more.

"You need more damage dealers holding the line so the archer can do their job," Bearita advised.

I nodded in agreement. "Well, what do you got that's about a hundred gold range?"

She smacked her lips and sighed. "I wondered how such a weakling got here. You look lost, like you tripped into a pond from out there as your first stop in the Shadows Domain."

I tilted my head. "Yup, did my clothes give it away?"

"Then you wandered into hell?"

She didn't even look as I nodded my head. She was already on her way behind the counter.

"Guards interrogated you and harassed you, yeah? But you proved your worth," Bearita continued on.

"Yes. To all of that. What is it you are after?" I didn't want to waste too much time.

She tapped her head and winked at me with a devilish grin. "I like the ones who are more exposed and not working with her lady. Come with me to the back for a discount opportunity."

Bearita lifted a bead cloth, dividing the front to the back. It was brightly lit with a lot of candles and hundreds of leather-bound books lined the wall. Scrolls filled every nook and corner. A set of chairs sat around a small table. A tea pot and empty tea cups waited like a familiar foreboding scene. I had to watch my mouth.

"Hold on." The paladin, the armored player from inside the shop, called out to me. He came up to me and handed a bag of coins. "Find me when you're done talking to her. This will help you get better gear for the quest. I'd just ask for a few common plants in exchange."

My gear must've looked horrible for this man to treat me like a charity case. He gave me a thousand coins. "What's this for?" I asked.

He held out his fist, awaiting approval to exchange contact information. "Buy a potion of vision to see better in the fog. It's dangerous out there," he explained.

"Why are you helping me, though?" I held onto the coins. It was the most I'd ever owned since playing.

"You're from Famanel right? Just give me two plants from the region and I can get back once I'm ready. I've been trying to get back to help my old guild, my real-life friends." The ranger next to the paladin rolled his eyes. "My friends can't get out because they need more money to win the bidding war on the travel potions and bleed ones."

"Why a travel potion? They could take the boats and leave to join you or walk the roads," I suggested.

"The rich players can. My friends are the best at fighting-neither am I, its why we got split. But the city's been getting closed down. Now you need a voucher from the king to leave through the gates. To get one of those, you need to do his quest, which to survive it, you need the travel potion, cure bleed, and a bunch of good health potions. And there's hardly any of those on the market for a cheap."

"Darrell, that was an info dump," the ranger complained. "Short story, the city isn't newb player friendly - nor cheap anymore. Supplies sucks there, I suggest you get out."

"And you're giving it to me, just like that? Why can't you take a portal there?" I asked.

The paladin put his helmet back on. "Stuck in a holy class quest until I find some leads. I'm guessing you have seen any frogs around?"

"Yeah, right in hell, a whole swarm of them. Is Bearita about to give me a class quest?" My shoulder's slumped. I needed the money, but I didn't want to get stuck here on a class quest.

"Nope, but don't keep her waiting. Good luck." Darrell said.

He turned to talk to his friend again about gear. This was going to be another tangent quest. I could turn and go straight out the door and kill a bunch of newts. I didn't need any ranger items this store offered.

Naiad needed them.

I gripped Darrel's coins, storing them into my inventory, and followed Bearita into her office.

"Customers shouldn't make the shopkeeper wait." Bearita said. "It causes the daily discounts to go away."

"You mean you up charge your items?"

"No no no, there's always a sale, every day when I have a good day. Waiting the day away makes it a bad day. I've got money to make, so let's make this fast."

She handed me a teacup, the warm smell rising to me filled with apple and something else. The smell was colorful, like the room. Reds and soft yellows covered the place with splashes of green mixing between. The chairs were yellow with pillow covered in feathers that had the illusion of eyes like peacock feathers.

The feathers blinked at me.

I switched seats, afraid of a mimic pillow and the tea. Anytime I drank it, I did something stupid. "What is it you had to tell me?"

"Ten years ago, no one wore one of those hats you see out in the street. Then suddenly, the new mayor, Miss, A. Tory began telling everyone to cover their heads and protect their minds from hell. It saves us from any threats. Over the time, the attacks on our city decreased."

"Sounds like the plan worked." I had to get a bunch of the balaclava to save the kids from Leith's mind controlling games.

"So did adding the magical aura around the camp. They extend the powers of the pillars in the center of the city up and out." Bearita caught her breath, studying my reaction. "I believe the garb is something that Mayor A. Tory…"

Jeez oh pete, this was becoming another pointless long quest. What I needed was simple fetch quests, not distractions. I had to catch up to the kids.

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[Quest notification! Bearita has noticed…]

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"Yeah, yeah. I get it." I cut her off.

Over a dozen hearts shot up above the orc's head.

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[You've accepted a quest.]

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I was too slow. Digging through the information of the quest, I pulled up its notes.

"Crap." I grumbled and rubbed my head. I just accepted a class quest.