Level Up Family - Chapter 2

Other than himself, his family could also be considered as a strange one. The reason? It's simple, both Marius and his wife are born with unusual gifts, and these traits had also ended up passed down to their children. Because of this, no matter where they go, who they meet, they will always be perceived as the odd ones.

The bright lights turned on, revealing the room filled with decorations as if there was some kind of event. Marius saw this and had a happy look on his face as he stared at the individuals before him with a wide smile as he thought to himself, "Even if so, I shall always take pride in everyone, for in my eyes, you are all my priceless treasures,' Marius thought as he looked at the scene before him with joy, his eyes glistening with a hint of tears.

"We-Welcuum hoome, dadda!" An extremely adorable little girl struggled to say as she lifted her small arms her ran towards him in an unsteady manner.

She had bright unnatural green hair and large innocent-looking purple eyes and a little long-sleeved shirt, almost covering her small palms.

Behind this girl, was a gorgeous woman of peerless grace, almost nonhuman. Her features were similar to the little girl with long green hair and a hat over her head. Though she wore a simple dress, despite its commonness it was unable to shroud her abundance, her small nose, delicate lips, and graceful almond eyes with thin eyebrows.

Also, at the side of this woman was a growing boy, his height no larger than Marius's waist. His arms were placed behind him for some reason and were wrapped by something akin to a straight jacket. However, his face had an innocent smile.

"Welcome home, dear!"

"Welcome home, dad!"

The beauty and the young boy said in unison as they began to walk towards him at a steady pace. Marius didn't even hesitate to hurry forward and grasp the little angel in his arm, lifted her to his chest and teasing.

"My Little Rose can't be so cute? How dare you show such cuteness at this hour?" Marius playfully said as he rubbed her hair, causing her to close her eye in delight as she giggled.

Little Rose was only three-year-olds; her given name was Rose Edgewick and was naturally the most peculiar child of the family. When Marius playfully rubbed her head, her hair, which parted to the side, revealed two extremely adorable golden horns.

Marius didn't show any major reaction to this, knowing about these horns since the day of her birth. Anyone else who knew of it, also similarly no longer existed in this world.

He knew that with this fact and his wife's ever such looming strangeness, that though they seemed human, they most certainly weren't by any degree. Even their status sheets told him otherwise, as for why he didn't press his wife for more answers? Marius knew that his wife would sooner or later explain all of these things to himself.

Speaking of which his wife's name was Ria Zorith, a beauty born of an unknown family whom even someone of Marius's level could not trace in this world.

As for his son, who was called Grevlin Edgewick, Marius couldn't be anymore prouder. Despite his strange disability to not properly use his arms, he was naturally the most obedient son, having no other unusual features except for marking on his chest.

At this time, both Grevlin and Ria had arrived at Marius's side, Marius kissed Little Rose and passed her to Ria before he rubbed Grevlin's head and spoke, "My little champion, how was your day?"

Grevlin smiled and replied, "Father, I finally learned how to hold a rock more gently."

When Marius heard this, he was surprised; he looked at Grevlin with beaming eyes as he knew full well of his son's uncommon arm strength. He spoke, "Have you really achieved this?"

Grevlin puffed out his chest with pride as he spoke, "Hehe, yes I have father, I want to show you later."

Marius smiled as he patted Grevlin's head and replied with a praising tone, "That's my boy! Since you say it's so, then its so, from now on, we'll only need to work on getting you to property hold something lesser denser than rocks."

Grevlin made an innocent grin closing his eyes as he enjoyed the praise, Marius then turned to his lovely wife, staring at her with a gentle look as he held her slender waist and kissed her on her lips.

After the two kissed, Marius stared at her with his nose being only a few centimeters apart from her's as he spoke, "I'm home..."

Ria made a warm smile and held her face with her palm as she spoke, "You look troubled, what happened today?"

Though Marius kept a straight face, his worry was slightly visible in his eyes, while others wouldn't notice this difference. His wife wasn't what you'd call normal; she could sense things of a negative and chaotic nature as if it was by instinct.

Marius shook his head and replied, "I'll talk about it after dinner,"

After saying this, Marius walked away while holding Grevlin's hand; he looked at the neatly decorated table with all sorts of food, cake, and drinks. He made a warm smile as he turned to look at Ria and spoke, "It seems you've been busy today."

Ria made a matter of fact look as she walked over while holding Little Rose in her arms, she spoke, "Well, of course, I couldn't have our anniversary celebration be like such, now can I?"

Marius laughed as he replied, "Haha, you're right, certainly not like in those earlier years."

Ria also grinned, knowing what he was talking about. Back when they met and fell in love, he had still taken a while to retreat from his old lifestyle, resulting in some truly awkward battlefield anniversaries. Heck, even their private marriage was in some remote wild lands.

"Hehe, yes, it really does take me back, you were also so fierce, not so tamed..." Ria said while licking her lips, her face carrying a slightly enchanting look.

Marius knew what that look meant; he gulped, preparing himself mentally for another long night. Ria walked by him stealthily, pressing her finger on his side before acting as nothing happened.

Ria then spoke with a loud voice, "Kids, eat up now; tonight, we'll all have to go to bed early!"

"Yes, mama!"

"Yes, mother!"

Little Rose and Grevlin replied as they hurriedly sat down around the table, Ria began to feed to Little Rose as Grevlin started to unfasten the interior zip on his armbinders.

Marius looked at this in surprise; he thought for a bit before he decided to inspect everyone, speaking with his mind, 'Inspect Status.'

_____

[Name: Grevlin Edgewick]

[Level: 0 | Age: 10]

[Race: Human + ?]

[Stamina: Not Appilacable]

[Strength: Not Appilacable]

[Agility: Not Appilacable]

[Dexterity: Not Appilacable]

[Unknown Power: None]

[Inborn Abilities:]

[Passive Strengthen – Arms | Level 1]

[Mastery: 0/500 | Locked: Unable to increase mastery]

[Description - An inborn skill that allows the host to strengthen their arms passively, the ability will increase in mastery for each use and non-use over time.]

....

[Call of Darkness: Locked]

[Description - ???]

...

[Learnt Skills: None]

_____

[Name: Ria Zorith]

[Level: 0 | Age: 25]

[Race: ?]

[Stamina: Not Appilacable]

[Strength: Not Appilacable]

[Agility: Not Appilacable]

[Dexterity: Not Appilacable]

[Unknown Power: None]

[Inborn Abilities:]

[????: Sealed]

[Description - ???]

...

[Learnt Skills: ]

[????: Sealed]

[????: Sealed]

[????: Sealed]

_____

[Name: Rose Edgewick]

[Level: 0 | Age: 3]

[Race: Human + ?]

[Stamina: Not Appilacable]

[Strength: Not Appilacable]

[Agility: Not Appilacable]

[Dexterity: Not Appilacable]

[Unknown Power: None]

[Inborn Abilities:]

[Grim Fire – Level 1]

[Mastery: 0/500 | Locked: Unable to increase mastery]

[Description - An inborn skill that allows for the host to wield the fabled flames of darkness, calling upon its destructive force to annihilate all beings.]

...

[Learnt Skills: None]

_____

Marius sighed and shook his head as he viewed their details before he inspected his own, causing the screen to popup up for his eyes.

_____

[Name: Marius Edgewick]

[Status: Hidden - Inheritor of this status is born with uncommon abilities.]

[Level: 0 | Age: 29]

[Race: Human]

[Stamina: Not Appilacable]

[Strength: Not Appilacable]

[Agility: Not Appilacable]

[Dexterity: Not Appilacable]

[Unknown Power: Not Appilacable]

[Mastery Points - 7665]

[Inborn Abilities:]

[Strengthen All | Level 1 ]

[Mastery: 0/500 | Locked: Unable to increase mastery]

[Description - An inborn skill that allows the host to strengthen anything he wishes, abilities are increased by 1 level. Warning: Due to the current 'setting,' and the lack of Unknown Power, the host will have extreme side effects.]

...

[Learnt Skills: None]

______

Marius made a self-mocking smile as he saw his stats, he thought to himself, 'So what? We still can't level up on Earth anyways; this might have just been a pointless blessing.'

After Marius wrapped up his thoughts, he noticed that Grevlin was trying to hold a spoon, but the spoon soon twisted apart.

Grevlin made a sad look, but Marius stared at him and spoke, "Hey, come on now, that's not a bad try, at least you didn't crush it like last time."

Grevlin, hearing this nodded, feeling a little better, Marius then started to feed Grevlin, as this was the normal routine, one fed the youngest as the other fed the biggest.

The scene here seems as peaceful as ever, the normal sight of a loving family. However, though simple, there were other things out of the norm.

Suddenly, Little Rose whose eyes were droopy was having her mouth cleaned by Ria, but as this happened, her nose felt itchy.

"Ha... Haa..." As if bottling up for a big sneeze, Little Rose closed her eyes and with her mouth wide open.

Ria seeing this was alarmed, but Marius was the first to act. He looked at Ria and shouted, "Ria, turn her to face me!"

"Right!" Ria replied as she quickly faced Little Rose towards him, Marius then crossed his arms before him and invoked his skill, "Strengthen!"

Crack! The sounds of bulging muscles were heard as his arms ripped through his suit, showing his densely packed muscles and veins.

"Ac-chu!" Little Rose sneezed cutely, but sadly, the effect was no different from a disaster.

Blaze! A purple fire spewed out of her mouth, enveloping Marius's entire body. After a short while, the flames faded as Little Rose looked at the scene excitedly, clapping her little arms as she spoke, "Yay-yay! Dadda is playing with the fire again!"

Ria looked at her daughter and sighed while in thought, 'Oh... this little child of mine...'

Grevlin wasn't shocked; he was used to this scene; he continued to finish the bit of food that was still within in mouth while observing.

Marius, whose body was fine except for his clothes, sighed before he spoke, "Oh, the joys of parenthood."

Ria looked at Marius as the two stared at each other; they began to laugh due to the event. After they calmed down, Ria recalled something, she looked at Marius and asked, "Honey, so what's been bothering you today?"

Marius hesitated for a while, he sighed and looked at her before replying, "Well, dear, you see, about that job..."

Ria made a knowing look as if she knew what he was about to say, before Marius could even finish his words, she looked at him and spoke with a tender look, "It's okay, you don't have to say it. Honey, it's their loss, not yours, and certainly not ours. Even if poor, no matter where we are in this world, so long as we are together, we can always strive for a greater future."

Marius felt touched hearing this; he knew his wife was understanding and felt even more proud that he could marry someone like her.

Marius wanted to say something, but right at this time, not only himself and Ria, even Grevlin and Little Rose, felt a change.

'This feeling... I haven't felt this feeling in a long time... but today, it feels different,' Marius thought as he recalled feeling this mood, many times as a child growing up, only in his later years when he met Ria did it started to fade by a quite a bit.

Suddenly, a massive glowing diagram with odd runes had appeared underneath Ria's body, but as if it senses something peculiar, it immediately expanded surrounding everyone in the room.

"Summon!" A cold and ruthless voice said, carrying within it an icy air that chills any man down to his bone.

Ria hearing this turned pale, but before she could say anything, everyone in the family looked up in shock as they saw a hand that covered the entire room, a savage-looking dark purple arm with red nails.

Just by looking at it, Marius felt a tinge of despair and knew that if they were caught by it, death would certainly follow.

"I cannot let this happen!" Marius shouted as though he didn't know what the hell was going on, he understood that he had a role to play as a husband and a father.

He jumped onto his feet invoked his power once more, throwing a punch against the floor as his arm rippled with uncommon power. The concrete formed a slight depression with a loud banging noise, but it couldn't stop the odd diagram.

Marius felt despair, as he noticed that not only himself, but everyone in the room was glowing in a reddish light, and shrinking as they flowed towards the direction of the arm.

"Noooo!" Marius cried out, but it was right at this moment a strange change occurred.

____

Ding!

[You have encountered an unusual Summoning Gate connected to another world!]

Ding!

[Your Status has been unlocked! Activating summoning command!]

____

Following this notification that sounded in his mind, the Summoning Gate below them began to flicker with red and blue lights. Marius and his family now glowed in two different colors, as if confused.

"An interference! Damn!" The cold voice snarled.

However, before it could even do anything, the space around them had begun to warp. Instantly, Marius, Ria, and their children turned into small rays of light, they entered the warp in space and vanished from this world.