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

The city guard glared at me, like it was rude I was his height and not looking up at him. "Name and guild."

"Boulder of the Shrimp Guild."

Unlike the other players, he paused and looked up from his notepad and over toward the tent where his captain worked. "Shrimp Guild, huh?"

He slowly raised his red flag when Triangle grabbed it suddenly. "Oh, I like this color! Ah! What's this cute animal on here?"

The banner for Fanamel was a sheep and a wolf, divided by a fence, and looking at each other. Little hearts appeared over the guard's head. "Child, this is the flag of our great nation. Which animal do you like?"

"The wolf!" Triangle pointed at the sheep instead.

"You're pointing to the sheep." The guard cleared his voice and talked in a lighter pitch. "What do you like about it?"

"It's a wolf, just a fuzzy one in warm pajamas."

Naiad bent down and whispered in his hear. Triangle's face brightened at what she said. "Oh, a wolf wearing sheep's clothing!"

Balloon hearts floated all over the guard. I doubt this much would be Triangle's charm stat. This was the built in game buffing a child's interaction with an NPC. The game wanted young players to easily unlock simple quests, like crafting, which would keep them in the city. Except, I had a huge hunch the game didn't code the NPC guards to be different NPCs, meaning they would let a child do whatever they wanted. Like a walk out into the woods in underlevel gear.

The guard continued talking. "You're pretty smart. Why don't you keep this flag and bring it back to me once you're done out there? Let me know what you think the fence means."

"Wow! Thanks!" Triangle snatched it and took off for the woods.

Naiad went to follow, but the guard put a hand out to stop her. "Name and guild."

"Naiad of Shrimp Guild, and my little brother is running into the scary woods. I need to get him."

"Of course." The guard stepped to the side to let her go, not bothering to inquire about our whereabouts or the fire. The built in child charm buff saved us.

Naiad and I easily caught up to Triangle as he pulled out his spotted unicorn. It's the horn twisted like chocolate and vanilla ice cream. The unicorn lowered to ground so the gnome could hop up into the saddle. I pulled out my unicorn, a brown color one with a matching light horn on top. I transferred the orange plume from my previous mount over to this one.

I watched Triangle smile as he rode his unicorn around. He was happy being outside of the walls. The fear of monsters in the game was a far away nightmare for him. It was still something I had to keep an eye out on.

"Triangle, you saved us back there. Great work." I told him as I trotted up next to him.

"I did?" He inquired, pure confusion on his face. "I have a flag, like your feather now!"

With a little twine, he attached the city's banner to his mount, oblivious that he used his child's bonus to get past the guard. It made me realize how pointless charm points were for a younger gamer. I leaned over to Naiad. "Does he really not know the game favors him?"

"No! And it's annoying, just because he's seven years younger. I have to do seven times the work to get any sort of class quest?"

Her math made me laugh in response. "I need to do almost ten times. That's how the world is, trying to keep them innocent and safe in a bubble. While the same world prepares you for what's coming with your newfound freedoms."

Naiad rolled her eyes. "Yeah freedom. The endless amount of homework and tests to just say I'm not good enough."

"You are. Wait, I thought you said you finished your homework earlier?" I held my breath until she answered.

"I did. Tomorrow I wouldn't mind time to study for a test I have coming up." She answered.

"Let me know if there's a way I can help you study. Until you feel ready, Triangle and I won't game."

"I want to say how you're no fun, but," Naiad gestured to the Clingeo forest that had life fighting to grow back next to the road, "that feels out of place in this video game."

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[Congrats you parented correctly, so well that your kid didn't complain and agreed. The child will actually do it too!]

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"Triangle, Naiad, I think it be best if we took the Protection Potion right now." I pulled out my own, but waited to hear their thoughts before burning my only bottle.

"Why? We're strong enough to handle this part of the forest," Naiad said as she tapped her bow on her side.

Triangle pulled out a jingle bomb and rattled it. "Oh yeah, we can handle it."

"Please use Goldy," Naiad said faster than I could.

"Fine." The fish appeared in his arm and it sprayed Naiad and me once before going back into its tank. "Got you."

I wiped the water off my face and said, "Take the potions so we can travel faster, avoid unnecessary fights, and plant the seed. It's getting late and I want to make sure we get that done, at least. If we have extra time, we can fight."

Neither kid complained.

Stolen story; please report.

"We'll want an area we can defend from monsters and one that's hidden. No stream dad?" Naiad asked.

"I deleted it."

With that it we drank the Protection Potion that Triangle gave us.

>>><<<

[Never stray from the path and you will be safe. Oblivious, and unaware, the road goes both ways in this protection.]

>>><<<

It would be good as long as we never left the road. No monsters would notice us, and we wouldn't see them either. Players could still hunt us down, so this wasn't a leisure walk in the woods. We had to stay alert. I didn't know how many members of the Pantheon were around here.

It wasn't surprising how quiet the Clingeo Grove was, but it made sense once you took in the immediate surrounding. The amount of food available for herbivores and birds was almost nothing. The forest hadn't grown back yet. It made it easier to hear Naiad and Triangle talk about plants. They tried to one up each other on their knowledge, but it got to a point I didn't understand much was real, part of the game, or them lying. They both knew more than me.

The older sibling lost when Triangle pointed to a plant and named it, and she didn't know the next plant. Or the next. Triangle kept listing them, updating my interface. They both knew more than me. Listening to them explain about nature took me back to the camping trips with Uncle Rick and having knowledge passed down to me. Hearing it from my own kids was even cooler.

We took a split in the road that let us travel north toward the mountains and away from Clingeo Grove. More evergreens took over the area, less vining plants, and bushes became sparser as we trotted around. The Gambstable River water had a yellow tint as it became shallow in these parts. Before we crossed a bridge, the Carrion of Life flew away from us and back into the Clingeo Grove.

After Naiad finished explaining how leaves couldn't be used on arrows as shafts, I asked her, "Where's he going?"

"He's still a creator of this forest and needs to take care of it," she answered. "The more time he spends there, the faster some things can grow. Same if I'm there with him."

"What's in that direction?" I asked.

"That's where I planted the herb to get the forest started up again." Naiad answered. "Thanks again for helping me with the herbs. The vine one from hell is making support with some plants here in earth. They are working together as a team to live."

"Ah. Well, it will certainly be interesting. I should pull you up some documentaries about invasive species when we get home."

"Dad, this is a video game, not real life. Can we have fun here, please? Why can't we plant the seed in my forest? Kerry will help defend it."

"How many people have entered your hell forest?" I countered her with a question. I didn't want to point out that even Kerry couldn't take on one member of the Pantheon guild.

"A few people got close, but the Kerry keeps it safe with a fog spell." Naiad paused her unicorn, waiting for me to answer.

"Mountains had better soil," Triangle reminded us as he rode by.

"Let's explore a less-traveled area to keep the seed safer. We'll break off the road here soon and head to the foothills of the mountains." I rode to catch up with Triangle. "Then we can test this best arrow design, leaf vs feathers?"

"Leaves win!" Triangle called out.

We all marked on the map where we broke off from the road. The moment my unicorn stepped off the worn road and onto the forest floor, the Protection Potion buff vanished. I didn't realize how silent the ride was until nature got its volume switch turned back on with the buff.

Squawking birds echoed and called after each other. Yipping of a creature called off in the distance as the bushes shuddered with life and small lizards ran across our path and out. Insects buzzed about and the idiots of this game even coded misquote bites.

I swatted another one away as our mounts slowly moved through the dense forest. Anyone with a tracking skill could find where we went.

"Let's get off our mounts and walk the rest of the way. Our path is too obvious with the unicorns."

"How far are we going to walk?" Naiad asked while dismounting.

All three of our unicorns walked back to the road and away until they were out of sight to despawn. Triangle ran over to me, arms out, asking me to carry him. A bright smile stretched across his face as he requested, "Stop when I see plants I want."

I answered Naiad's question. "To ensure sufficient sunlight, we're seeking a sizable, secluded spot far from the usual paths. What was it? The seed hates getting wet, but wants water?"

Triangle corrected me on the notes, "Water the ground, not the seed."

"Does that mean we stick the seed out of the ground partially like it's an onion?" I asked him.

Triangle shrugged. "I don't know. What about up over that hill?"

Naiad shook her head. "Ma'am Q said cover it with wet dirt and it needed sand I think it? We got interrupted before I could write everything."

Triangle grabbed my head and steered in a direction of a steep slope.

I replied to Triangle. "To the hill. But you're walking that one if you're going to treat me like a horse."

"Neigh." He sighed out, and I laughed, letting him stay on top of my head.

He was happy and felt safe. The kid was brave and incredible.

Climbing through the forest, life was harder with Triangle as he kept wiggling around to reach for plants. Now he seemed to collect anything. I didn't mind it until he brought out his pet fish. Goldy smacked my cheek with its wet, scaley tail as it shot insects out of the tree.

"Goldy's level ten is getting as accurate as Naiad." The fish's shooting distance impressed me.

And like an idiot compared my daughter to a fish, which rightly earned me the stink face I got from her, that the bug would be jealous. At least I didn't say that last thought aloud. "Sorry. You're better than a fish."

An eye-roll was the only punishment I got from her. Naiad put her bow away and climbed the tree at the top of the hill. "There's too many tree's here. I'm going up to see if I can find a clearing."

While she scouted, Triangle ordered off my back with a neigh. He ran over to the base of a tree to collect oyster looking mushrooms. Goldy sniped a few more bugs before getting put back into its tank. His silence made me worried about him. His eyes darted about, possibly looking for the monsters that were nearby.

"What are those for?" I asked a natural question to gauge on his mood.

"For the Protection Potion."

"Are you feeling safe?" I squatted down next to him to see his face.

A big grin stretched across his face as he pointed to the lines of trees. "Yay! I thought this was a rare ingredient because of the market."

He skipped to the next trees and harvested more.

"Wow, it's a pretty common ingredient." I followed him along, holding my shield and keeping ready in case monsters showed up. It seemed he wasn't worried by the noises or anything in the woods. But nothing came near us. "Are the other ingredients hard to get?"

Something was odd, and not just Alcender caused the crappy day kind of problems odd. Even if he was the only alchemist, these ingredients were everywhere. He could've asked for a bunch to be harvested by adventurers. Or anybody from Fanamel before the lockdown could've tried to make the potion themselves by grabbing this mushroom. We weren't that far from the city. There had to be secret alchemists hiding in the city, helping other guilds. Thousands of players and no one tried it at all, or even made it this far for the protection potion.

I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Triangle was out of the city, happily playing the game and Naiad was scouting around and being independent and I felt we were going in the right direction to fix our relationship as long as I leveled up my listening more. Less time on my phone in the real world. Maybe it was the fresh air, but I felt like we could finally relax and play the game however the kids wanted.

Goosebumps broke out on my skin because everything was going great. We had given up our protection and entered a higher-level zone without seeing a single mob. There was calm before a storm, and the last time we were together and had a calm like this and picked mushrooms, a boss showed up.

"Look out!" Naiad cried from above the trees. "There's fog and a monster coming!"

"Ah, that was more like it," I stated as I pulled out my axe with my shield and stood next to my son. "Let's go Triangle,"

Relief chased away the goosebumps as I got comfortable with the fact that my dad-sense was still working properly.