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

We made our way through the forest, fighting mobs right and left without the protection potion. A few large lizards called chandra that could've been Falco's cousin with how they sparked their mouths and claws. I found them cute, with their gigantic eyeballs and little fire tongues, that I even considered getting one as a pet to light my shield on fire during battles.

"Get it off me!" I shouted as I smacked my fist over and over into the chandra's squishy head. It's fat just sucked my hits in. "Its tongue is burning my thumb!"

I could feel the blisters forming as the tongue of the chandra did not let go of my hand.

"I told you not to put it there!" Naiad was running over with her knife.

"Wait, dad's still feeding it." Triangle couldn't block his taller sister.

"Not by choice. Cut it." I begged.

Naiad's knife cut the monster's tongue and stopped short of cutting my thumb off. "Thanks. Ouch."

Kerry cackled above us. "Have you forgotten your daughter feeding the Nanabush when we initially met?"

My glare up at the fowl bird wasn't effective. Instead, I sat there catching my breath and looking at the singed scenery in around us. Triangle was effective against the chandra with Goldy. With all these fights, we were getting a lot of loot to sell on the market or for creating potions. Triangle used most of his money to buy the ingredients, but said he could make it all back quick with the potions, even if he set them at a third a third of the normal asking price.

An hour had passed, and we were about to enter the Clingeo Grove. The first fights forced us to put our mounts away to keep them safe. It made a slog to get back to Fanamel.

The old me thought that. The new me laughed as Triangle mocked me, getting bit by the chandra. "Think the second time is the charm?"

"For a chandra to finally eat your arm!" Naiad laughed.

Jokingly, I chomped on my healing hand. "Nom, nom, nom."

"Ew," she stuck her tongue out, "it just had its mouth there."

I spat out on the ground, "I don't taste good either. How goes the map making?"

Naiad pulled out a piece of paper and waved it in the air. "It's done! I've left some markers on the trees during that last fight to help guide other players further."

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[System Message from Beth: Hey, I'm wrapping up work and should be online soon and in Fanamel… I'm trying to be honest and I'm sorry for not saying anything sooner. I'll find you in the city.]

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Beth never typed ellipses. She was always calm, cool, and collected. Why were there ellipses? Those three dots were a trail of breadcrumbs to some dark secret and not sure what it could do to me. I looked at the smiling kids and wondered if they knew the truth, or if they should know it.

I felt the weight of the shield on my back as if I should prepare for a boss fight, not a greeting with my wife. With a large gulp, I forced my fear down and stepped up. "With the map done, then with this we should get going."

Getting through Clingeo Grove was a lot easier than the Brightstone Woods in terms of fighting mobs. I stayed in the front and watched Naiad jump from tree to tree, gliding on Kerry and shooting down. Triangle resisted throwing a bomb once. He focused super hard and kept his tongue out during the fights as Goldy listened to his commands. I learned to predict his movements and adjust to him as he blasted the pengaroo swarm. They could hop, but not dodge his attacks.

Naiad collected the scales from the monsters, and I noticed for the second time. She fiddled with the cursed ring, the Goddess Promise, on her finger.

"Is it getting loose?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No, it's getting tighter these last few times. It feels tied to our timer. When you over-watered the seed, it got tight. But now, it's loosening up and feeling a lot better. But tighter compared to when it first showed up."

"You'll let me know if you we need to do something? If you hear anything?" I offered.

She gave me a gentle smile. "I know. We'll be fine."

"Mom's online! We have to get back!" Triangle cheered and took off running.

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[Quest Update: The Goddess Promise: Leith is calling your daughter. Find the goddess and talk to her.]

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"Dad, about telling you when it updates, I just got one. The ring gave a notification saying I have to find Leith now."

I dug into my inventory and pulled out the cinnamon stick out. "I got one too, and I'm ready."

Naiad looked into the city, deep lines growing on her forehead. "Can we keep up with him and do shopping first? I don't want to deal with that quest yet."

"Of course," I agreed and followed her lead.

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Naiad and I lightly jogged to keep pace with him. The brick walls of Fanamel appeared ahead on the road. The guards waved us in, no longer interrogating on our guild name. In fact, the security seemed lacking compared to days before. But the kids were racing down the street, not giving me a chance to ask about what happened the Pantheon guild.

The only obvious change I could gather was the city was still concerned about its defenses. Near the city gates, mages built a new guard tower, armed with physical and magical cannons. The city was preparing for a war. Did the game order a change to happen in the city and prepare for the boss we had growing up north? If so, I really hoped our battle wouldn't reach here. We wouldn't stand a chance fighting a boss that big. It took us almost two hours to get back to Fanamel.

At least I couldn't stand a chance alone. With the kids and their unique solutions, we could do it. Just not alone.

The new player spawn in point only had one person enter into the game. But the player ignored the three of us and continued on.

"Maybe Mom went to the market?" Naiad suggested. "She would like the best gear she could afford."

"Yeah, she would spend every penny on a magical wand or staff."

"But why? She can have whatever she wants." Triangle tugged on my arm to go shopping.

We walked through the marketplace looking for her and doing our own shopping. We bought glass bottles for the potions and any remaining ingredients Triangle needed before heading to the guildhall. Naiad purchased new powerful barbed arrows along with a few freeze and fire scrolls. As we speed walked through the marketplace, I couldn't help but notice all the players watching us.

It wasn't my imagination.

They pointed and talked about Pantheon and Shrimp guild in hushed tones. When they noticed me looking, they turned away, but continued to steal glances at me, and at Triangle. I announced on the stream where the seed was, they could easily leave now and go get it.

Thousands of players held back by Pantheon here in Fanamel. They could easily leave and go get it. There were likely a few players who could easily. Even more that could teleport right to the forest and find it.

We couldn't defend against an army of thieves. We needed our guild.

"Where do you think Mom is?" Naiad sulked.

I bit my lip and looked at the crowd near us one more time. I didn't see any players with Beth's gamer name nearby.

"She's at the guildhall," Triangle stated.

I trusted him knowing what was going on, and it gave me a sense of relief that at least Beth talked to one of the kids. What she had to say to me couldn't be too serious.

When we arrived in the guildhall, CheezWiz and his friends were setting up the practice room with tables and an alchemy tier two crafting equipment.

"The heroes of the hour have arrived." He clapped and shouted at our entrance.

The others joined in with the applause as he continued talking. "Y'all, thanks to you, people are fighting back against the Pantheon guild in cities. We would've joined in on a raid today if it wasn't for your message. I knew sticking around with the Shrimp Guild was a great idea."

Triangle ran from bench to bench. "Is this all for me?"

"For the guild. Teach us how to make the potions and what prep work we can do for you." CheezWiz spread his hands out to the tables. "A lot of donations came in to our guild today. The community wants to help."

I heard crates clattering and jumped back, startled as five of them hopped out toward the table. They hovered an inch above the ground before bouncing back up again.

"What the hell?" I shouted.

I backed out of the way as the stack jumped up and landed on the table. A small black frog with bright blue spots jumped out from underneath them and kicked the stack to be organized.

A creepy crawly goddess Leith stared up at me. We weren't ready with the seed or the wraith of a goddess. I didn't even know the gods could enter the guildhall. The guild's haven now felt as sturdy as gossamer cloth.

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[Quest Completed!: The Goddess Promise: Leith has found your daughter.

Quest Reward: You survived hell.]

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That was a crappy reward for a quest. I pulled out my shield to defend the kids. CheezWiz busted out a loud laugh at my reaction. "I did the same thing. The achievement for meeting a god deity is broken."

Triangle interrupted my words as he ran forward, "Mom!" and picked up the poisonous amphibian.

The frog smiled and hopped on his shoulder for a bit, giving him a nudge before looking back at us. "Thank you for completing this quest," Leith croaked out. "You can be mad at me, but please don't yell."

"Have you been Leith this whole time?" Naiad blurted out. Even her face looked flushed as she held out a stick of cinnamon. "You mind controlled our characters!"

The little frog shook her head from side to side. "No. I only took over this NPC when I was watching you two wander into Hell."

"You were watching us, then you knew everything that was going on," I accused her. Trying so hard to keep my voice normal. "You could've talked to us sooner."

"I couldn't because of the rules of the company. Talking even now is against them. They'll see the logs, but I'll risk it so you know the truth," Beth explained.

I wanted to scream at her, but my voice cracked a bit as I talked and forced a joke and smile. "You cheater, you had administration rights. You could…" I stopped myself from blaming her for my mistakes in a video game. "The game doesn't log conversations outside of the game."

The frog's lower lip curled in, but popped back out with no teeth to keep it in. "I didn't realize things were going this wrong until I noticed my low-level daughter and husband skipping about in Hell and calling all the demons after them. When you took the seed, Leith was spawning in to send her army after you. Not to let you go flower picking. I logged in and overrode the game to prevent a 'traumatizing moment' to a child. At least that's what I told the code monkeys to give me permission."

Naiad walked up to her brother and mom. Patting her head. "Why didn't you say something then? Or texted me?"

"I guess pride is strong in our family. I knew you both would be mad at me."

"I am," Naiad instantly replied. "It was difficult, and we got separated in the game and at home."

Triangle nodded along with her.

I kept the same words back. "But it's only a game. Your mom kept us from dying, we had to do a lot to get back to together. What about the ring?"

"It notifies me when she would wander into heaven or hell along with her level. Along whenever her health would drop low. Naiad had some goddess protections."

"The daughter for a daughter? A trade for a real daughter for an NPC?!" I slipped some anger out.

"Between your stream and the developers watching, I couldn't slip character. I'm so sorry for not saying anything, but I don't regret doing it."

"Can you help us with the boss," Triangle asked. "It's going to be that scary branch monster again, isn't it?How can we stop it?"

Beth closed her large eyes and sighed. "I can't answer that. But I can help you prepare for it."

"You're a cheater." I said with a smile. "Helping a daughter fight another daughter."

The frog chirped and hopped up. "This isn't easy!"

"Wow mom," Naiad judged.

"I bet she and the developers are making bets on who is going to win. Are you even allowed to me be making these potions?"

The frog huffed and jumped more up and down. "Let me help! We are betting lunches for two weeks!"

"Get hopping," I couldn't resist the dad joke.

Leith calmed down and looked at all of us. "Sorry all of you for slipping and becoming obsessed with my job. I'll work on putting family first."

I patted the little frog. "I forgive you. We got some challenges to face in making sure we put family first always."

We stayed like that for a few seconds before Triangle sighed, "We're waisting precious time in getting potions made. Save the hugs for outside of the game. We have an army to feed."