So… it would appear I have made a few oversights. Firstly, I have no mouth to communicate with the Bee, and my attempts at body language have been met with head tilts. It seems this rock body is terrible at conveying anything. Although I can’t tell the Bee anything, I can understand its buzzing. Language Comprehension wasn’t kidding when it said all. Unfortunately, the only things the Bee tells me is ‘Boss’, ‘Enemy near’, and ‘Meditate’.

Secondly, I’m in a Dungeon. Dungeons mean monsters. Fortunately, the monsters are extremely weak. The Meditating Bees seem to be the same size as me, however, they are slower and weaker than the Bee I’ve befriended, as they all get one-shotted by it. I’m wondering why none of them change their size. Besides the bees, I’ve only encountered two different monster species. Zombie Bats and Fire Moles. The Zombie Bats are pretty sturdy, reattaching their limbs should they fall off, but are incredibly slow and susceptible to bashing. I learnt that in our first encounter. The worst part about them is how sticky their bodies are. The Fire Moles, on the other hand, are moles. There’s nothing special about them besides the fact they can shoot out fireballs. The Bee seems scared of the fire, but I tank it for it. Our strategy to deal with the monsters is pretty simple. I tank DMG while the Bee shrinks and hides behind me, then when we’re close enough, it enlargens and decapitates the monsters with its scythe hands. Did I mention the Bee has scythe hands? 

Well, long story short, the monsters are pushovers. The problem is what monsters attract, which also happens to be the third thing I overlooked.

Thirdly, there are adventurers. The adventurers tend to have me and Bee outnumbered, so we’ve devised a plan to avoid fighting them. The Bee shrinks down and hides below while I’m lying down, acting like a heap of rocks. Turns out people can’t tell the difference between rocks and rock golems and that rock golems aren’t intelligent enough to think of such a strategy, so adventurers don’t bother checking. 

Thinking about it, these oversights aren’t that bad. Right now, there’s an adventuring party, so me and Bee are doing our typical strategy. Most parties I’ve seen have four people, a sword fellow and shield guy in front, and a healer and magic person in the back. Why is the shield guy always a dude? Even in a party that was almost all female, the shielder was a dude. What’s up with that? Speaking of shield guys, most of them have DEF stats in the 50s, but I did see one dude with nearly 100. He was alone, though. 

Since I far outclass the tanks in DEF, I don’t have to worry about dealing with the monsters. The mages, by the way, I outclass them entirely in stats. Just like the shielders, they average in the 50s. Granted, unlike me, they know some magic spells. Their levels are all pretty low, though, and they barely have Skills. The highest I’ve seen is 4, so maybe this is a beginner dungeon? I probably could take them on, but then again, my AGI is lower than all of them, so I wouldn’t even be able to hit them. Man, I really want to learn magic. How do I do that? The adventurers are passing by, so I think I’ll get up soon. I could just hide in the Library, but I can’t let Bee in there, and I’ve grown attached to them. Looking at them, they’re kinda cute… why do I think a bee is cute?

I stood up, and the Bee went back to its usual seat on top of my head. At that moment, I heard the kicking of a rock and looked at the source of the noise. I saw an old man, wearing a long black coat, a brown shirt and black pants, looking straight at me. He was completely frozen, in a pose that suggested he was trying to be sneaky. He doesn’t look that scary, but I’ll use Appraisal on him. You never know.

That’s… not good. He almost matches me with INT, and that’s my highest stat. Oh god, I’ve only just reincarnated, and am I going to die again already? I didn’t even get to answer my questions! Wait… tax collector? Oh, he’s an Adventurer, that’s probably why he’s here. Wait, maybe the Bee has an out, aaaaand it’s meditating right now. Damnit Bee! 

Looking back at the old man, he’s still frozen. 

“Can you see me?”

I look around, thinking he might actually be talking to someone else in the area. There’s no one, he’s asking me. 

“Shake your head up and down if yes, left and right if no.”

I shake my head left and right, hoping it’d make him go away. Wait… that just gave it away that I can hear him and see him. Argh!

“How interesting.” In a flash, he appeared behind me. I didn’t even see him move. From behind me, I heard him say, “A Cognitive Monster, and a Rock Golem at that. How interesting indeed. A Meditating Bee lackey, too, a mutant by the looks of it. A Roaming Boss, most likely. ”

Oh no, he’s already guessed I’ve got Cognitive Monster and Roaming Boss, and by the sound of it, I’m a rare thing. Also, Bee is a mutant? Are they a rarity too? Oh man, what is he going to do? Am I going to die? Oh Goddess, save me!

“Want to be part of my family?”

Eh?