I left the earthenware shop to walk over to the other side of the street to see Naiad feed another bug to Goldy, this time hanging it above the fish's head. The archerfish squirted water out to knock it from her fingertips and then sucked it up as it fell in the air. The kids giggled and Triangle patted the side of the fish, avoiding the tender fins on top.

  “Dad! Dad! I have a question.” Triangle said. Before I could reply, the gnome angled the gaping mouth of the archerfish up at me. “He’s leveling up [Vacuum] every time we feed him bugs. Dad! The bugs fed to him in his tank don’t count.”

  “What’s the question?” I was used to this method of grabbing an adult’s attention.

  “Um,” Triangle pushed the fish closer to me, ignoring my hand, saying stop. “Do you want to grab a bug?”

  Naiad had two worms in her hands and offered me one. I took it and watched as the giant fish gulped it up, flopping about happily and smacking Triangle down on the ground. His health bar appeared, but only a smidgen percentage was missing.

  Jeez. If a fish on dry land could lower his health that easily, then we really needed to look for better gear for Triangle. The fish vanished back into Triangle’s inventory and he continued to lie on the ground to watch the clouds.

  We had lost too much time doing other things and could not delay by resting. I sighed and called for their attention. “Alright, shrimplets, it’s time for our daily meeting. It’s been a week since we had one, so listen up. We don’t have time to get sick from eating today. You clearly avoided that option with my dinner earlier.” I noticed as Naiad held back a laugh; a dig at my poor cooking. “We need to avoid this situation of class quests holding us back. Both Naiad and I have quests to finish in the area. I have one that is hinting along the eastern wall, which is near the forest. Where’s your quest information?”

  “I have to look around a glade and find tracks of a unique creature.” Naiad replied, locking eyes with me to brag about how she knew that information off the top of her head. With how her eyes never twitched or glazed over, she never pulled up her system menu to look at the quest for information or her notes. She was always sharp at keeping track of everything. That was a trait from Beth and one I was proud she knew how to use.

  “Great! Triangle, you alright coming along with us?” I included everyone in our local guild meeting. It was also a trick to confirm if he was paying attention.

  “I’m cozy here.” He mumbled while watching the blue and white sky with the single moon up high.

  A player riding a unicorn mount cantered by until he saw Triangle. She paused her mount and looked up at the sky, wondering what was going on. After a moment, she moved on to do her own gaming.

  Naiad nudged Triangle’s side with her toe. “I’m taking your mattress when we get home, and you can sleep on the cozy carpet floor. Also, I’m nabbing all your stuffies if this is sooooo comfy. Especially Duala. I know she’s your favorite one.”

  Triangle leaped up and pointed a finger threatening, “You can’t go in my room! It’s mine.”

  “Then don’t be a wimp!” She pulled out her bow and drew a pretend string back, leaving the main one alone, and pointed at Triangle. “Show me your valor! Race me to the outside of the eastern wall, or else Daula is mine.”

  She jogged lightly to give the shorter legs of Triangle a chance to compete. Her method of engaging guild members was more effective than what I did. It was great to see Naiad excited about doing her class quest.

  I didn’t know how she felt about this game, but this was a pleasant change. Seeing the two kids getting along and having fun was a win for the day and life. My older brothers were more distant than my cousin three times removed.

  “Wait for your tank!” I shouted after them, easily catching and passing the pair. As the tank and dad, I should always lead the way.

  Naiad continued in a silly voice. “I shall showcase my valor by facing the unknown and finding the mysterious tracks.”

  Triangle ate it all up. “My valor will smash your valor!”

  The Shrimp Guild continued through the city. Triangle demanded to ride on top of my shoulders so he could beat Naiad. I jogged to get us there faster. She could easily beat me even if I wasn’t holding her brother. She lost horribly, pretending to be blocked by a group of NPCs or tripping her way out of the city.

  “Hold up. I want to make sure we buy camping gear before we leave the city.” I went to the common supply shop, where everything was cheap compared to the player market. The price matched the quality.

  >>><<<

  [(Item, common, discounted) Standard Camping Set!: This camping gear is perfect for those small team players of four or less, especially if you sleep standing upright and hug each other. This provides protection while the zone persists from monsters and players, not from environmental hazards. One time use for signing in and out of the game among all those in the zone.]

  >>><<<

  With the camping gear in hand, the thought of grabbing other food became tempting. I eyed the 4F restaurant that was only a few feet away from the Player General store. With how slowly we were moving, I probably had time to grab the food, get sick from it, and get the stat boost. But if I got sick, we would lose even more time than what happened with the jail incident. It wasn’t urgent. Although rarely employed by the game, fortitude assisted in your survival if you came across poison. Not that I ate poison often outside of the gaming restaurant.

  By the time we passed through the final security gate, we were already down ten more minutes for the night. Once past the guards and all incoming traffic, we stood off to the side and put Triangle down on the ground by the edge of the woods. This close to the road there were smaller birch trees, but further in were a mix of ash, oak, and a sprinkling of evergreens. An older forest with the trees casting shadows on the ground. The ground was dry, as if it hadn’t rained in a while, and the leaves crunched in the forest.

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  Or there was a monster waiting to pounce an unsuspecting rogue who was looking at animal tracks.

  I clapped my hands together to get the kids’ attention and stop my anxiety. “We’re going to do my quest first. I’m about to level, and maybe the first part of my quest will unlock some actual tanking skills.” I told them.

  Naiad did not complain, but looked at the woods. I really had to finish this quest fast before her quest. We both had entry-level class quests. Her damage increase would prove useful, but our team did not have a tank, and that was the first line of defense. If I did not get my class quest done first, I wouldn’t be able to protect my two kids.

  “Ugh, we just did what you wanted. Shouldn’t we be sharing?” complained Triangle.

  The timer from Mrs. Crockery’s place still floated above his red hat. Triangle had yet to notice it. I didn’t point it out for fear of Triangle using it against him as an argument about how long they spent on my part of the game versus anyone else’s.

  “We finished your class quest the last time we were on. It was why you were on the docks. The forest will have some good flowers for you and your bombs. Make sure to equip your gloves, too. They’ll help you with gathering.”

  The gloves boosted his chance of collecting uncommon goods and gave him plus one to his overall armor.

  Worn garden gloves covered Triangle’s small hands. He glanced up and noticed the timer, frowning as it disappeared. “Why did I have a timer?”

  Naiad answered, “We were supposed to time Dad. Stick with me and let’s see what smells we can find you.”

  Triangle shrugged and joined her as we walked into the shadows of the forest. All three of us got the notifications of entering the Clingeo Grove. Both Naiad and Triangle took off into the darkest shadows right away, as if to make me lose sight of them. They stepped on all the sticks to notify every monster in the area.

  At least it felt like that to me. Triangle took the lead with no awareness of the danger.

  “Wait for you sister and stay near where I can see you!” I shouted at them. “Hey!” I cried as the little red hat barely stuck out above the undergrowth bushes. “That’s far enough.”

  Their blue guild icon markers were fading into my fog of war on the map. We barely explored the forest, and in this game, your map only filled out as you explored. Last week, we came here solely to unlock Naiad's quest and then returned to hand in Triangle's on the other side of the city.

  I had filled in my map of Fanamel with details and notes. There were secret rat nests in the city we could level up at, places where I could unlock more tanking classes. Safer places where I would feel better than here.

  I turned my back on where the kids were, and their dots faded away slowly. I had to keep glancing between the wall, the ground, and the forest to make sure I had a sight of the kids. After a bit, I couldn’t see them anymore. But I could hear the giggles and fun, happy screams of Triangle. They were fine for now. I used the peace and chance of looking for broken pottery along the wall.

  “Come on, where is it?” I pulled up the quest looking for more notes, but I wrote only “Eastern wall.” This game needed more clues.

  The Eastern wall was extremely descriptive. It was a brick, outdated, wall that got a lot of the rising sun in the morning; tall, vined plants gathered in places. The city patrol recently burned some of it off, leaving scorch marks in places and burned ash on the ground. The ash gathered on my level one leather boots.

  “Ow!” I hissed out.

  My weak boots gave up protecting my toe against a shard of broken pottery hiding in the ash. Thanks to my improved health, the pain was negligible compared to a plastic tiny toy truck I’d stepped on earlier that day.

  Using my hands to dig around, I found a few more pieces and placed them into my inventory. This game was still new to me and I had no clue what I would need or could sell later. Right in this area and up against the wall, the trees turned black, burned to a crisp a few days ago based on the sprouting seedlings growing out of the black ground.

  Glancing back at the way I came, the forest was healthy and thriving. I traced my hand along the burned area on the wall, looking for further clues and pottery.

  As I bent down to pick up another piece of pottery, I noticed my map didn’t have any blue dots and I couldn’t hear the kids in the forest.

  [Guild Chat]

  [Boulder: Hey! Come back to the wall. I think I found something.]

  [Naiad: I did too. Triangle’s helping collect giant rat pelts from a nest.]

  [Triangle: I used a bomb!]

  [Boulder: What did I say about bombs?]

  [Naiad: It was a smoke one. It worked great in chasing them out so I could finish them.]

  [Boulder: Watch out for the tail end of the nest. Sometimes there’s a bigger rat.]

  [Naiad: I know.]

  [Boulder: How far are you from the wall?]

  [Naiad: 40 meters.]

  Rat nests in the city had a hoard and sometimes a mini-boss defending the trove near the back. The forest was a higher level than anything we had fought in the city; I didn’t like the idea they were out there alone without their tank. I needed to get to them quickly. This was a game about being a family together, not off and doing our own things.

  I changed up my method and tossed any found pottery pieces into the woods, hoping to stir something up for the quest. I kicked the ashen ground. That method stopped quickly as my toe got sliced again and I dropped two points of health.

  “Vile human! Leave before you know what’s best for you!” A gurgled voice screeched at me from the shadows of the wood.

  I pointed to the shield on my back, keeping my other hand far away from the fighting axe on my hip. The voice sounded close in the burned tree area, but I couldn’t see them. “Hey now, look, all I have is a shield. I like to be defensive, I’m not here to attack.”

  [Guild Chat]

  [Boulder: I might need help. How long on your stuff?]

  [Naiad: Busy!]

  [Triangle: DAD!]

  Someone stepped out of the woods, holding a small flame of fire in its palm. It’s three dark claws reflecting in the light. Even with the black hood hiding its face, this was not a creature of the city. At least, not one I had seen.

  It was about as tall as Naiad and lean. From the sound of it, something dragged behind it. I didn’t have time to investigate this quest or person. The children were in trouble with how they were ignoring my cry for help.

  I went straight to the root of the problem that the quest giver had. “Can you tell me why you are stealing pottery? Mrs. Crockery would prefer it if you paid and stopped destroying her shop.”

  “No one ever talks to us.” The fire in its claws lowered down, but its central flame remained a bright blue.

  “I am!” Right then, I wished I could pause the quest and go help the kids, but that wasn’t a choice.

  Talking right now frustrated me. In most games, it was spam click through the conversations and go off and fight something. Not chit chat.

  This was the neighboring forest of the city. I was almost on level with the area and its monsters. I could dive and attack this low-level mage, take him on before he cast another fire spell. There were two health potions in my inventory. This was not the time to talk. I had to fight and wrap this up to get to Naiad and Triangle.

  My hand slowly lowered down to my axe handle. New shadows moved behind the creature, and I stopped.

  Two more hooded creatures popped out of the woods and one of them failed to hide their long, thick tail. They stood about a head shorter than me. The game declared them level-five shrouded beings. Three on one, with only my level one axe and shield to fight.

  I was really hoping for a bomb right now.