So, fun fact, I also got the translater ability that's oh-so common in light novels. Who'da thought?

Regardless, I've been able to glean a bit from the conversation our four happy campers have been having. Mixed in with the info-dump pages on my status screen, and a lot of stuff it adding up for me.They don't seem to use names, or at least I haven't heard them. That's fine though, just seeing people after all this time is nice. Even if they do look kind of weird...

To explain how I can hear them, the best I can guess is that it probably has something to do with me being so small. Probably soundwaves or something.

Another thing I learned is that we're in a natural dungeon. This basically means that there isn't a dungeon 'core', but instead has some natural ambient mana concentration at the bottom. Likely an artifact or slumbering beast.

The monsters here aren't 'spawned' or 'birthed' from the dungeon, but any monster that stays here for an extended period of time will instead begin to mutate from the excess of mana. Eventually, even weaker dragons can birth within 10-20 years, if their 'floor' is low enough and the ambient supply of mana can sustain them.

Ooook, look, Stachy is getting the food ready. Looks like he used an engraved stone of some kind to produce water to pour into the kettle. I couldn't be sure exactly, but it seemed like...something had been sucked out of the surroundings to fuel whatever enchantment the stone had.

Pretty useless at the moment, with how small my body is I might be able to drown myself with a molecule of water.

Anyway, Baldie is saying something about the set-up of the dungeon. I'm gonna record it in case I ever need it.

"-nd that's if the basilisks don't trap us in the rock garden. Sure, we dived in way over our heads, but we've got the map and the bestiary. If we make a run for the south after breaking camp, we'll be able to reach the entrance to the upper floor within half an hour."

Ooh, now Stachy wants to say something. He's opposite Baldie and just kind of glaring at his...soup? Stew? Doesn't matter. His voice is a decent bit rougher, and I can feel a very slight hum in the air as he talks. Cool.

"That's idealistic thinking, and you know it. We have no idea where that creepcluster ran off to. After the bat room three layers in, that thing has tunnels. He's picked off far better groups than ours. I say we keep a guarded pace, and only run when necessary. If we make a blind dash, we could lose someone and not know it until minutes later."

Oooh, they've been throwing out monster names for a bit. I thought about capitalizing them, but nah. Wait...since it refers to a specific species, would it be considered a proper noun? Who cares, these are just notes anyway.

The companions had fallen into somewhat of an awkward silence, permeated with a heavy atmosphere. Surprisingly, the last (and still unnamed...let's call him...Fluffy.) of the four is the one that broke the silence. I say that since he's said like two words the entire time before this. Just kinda stares at blank space really. Huh.

"I'm going with Nomad here," Nomad? NOMAD? That's a dumb name. Wonder which one it is. Bet it's Stachy. C'mon Fluffy, gimme some context clues! "we need to stay protected. " I'm still calling him Stachy, it's a way better name. "I've seen one of those nightmares in a freakshow near the capital. They just look like a wad of teeth and flesh. I'd rather not have it pull me away by my ankles."

Baldie sighed, looking over to Mr. Boots for any kind of assistance, only to to be met with a shake of the head. He simply nodded and poured himself another portion of stew.

I think it's stew. Still...might be soup...mental sigh...

"Let's get some sleep after we eat. I'll take first watch", said Stachy. He was already standing and stretching. Huh...the tops of his arms are vanishing, about from the elbow up. I guess that's the edge of my vision? Kinda scary how small that is. Unless it's proportional to my size...in which case that might be terrifying.

Did I get a cool skill afterall!? Or...wait, no, it's in the ability discription. Let'sss...seee.....heeeeere....ah, yeah.

"Blah blah blah, mana frequencies translated into viewable genetic signals, blah blah blah, propror- oh here we go, I'm using a think to text option by the way; proportionate to innate mana. Often only used to view the area directly outside the body. Though, through extreme training has been shown to increase 'sight' by several yards."

That's pretty nifty. Oh...hey...everyone went to sleep. Kind of got absorbed there. I mean, it took a few minutes for me to find the relevant paragraph, but that was still no more than three minutes. These guys work fast.

Stachy is sitting on the opposite side of the camp, about a foot away from the edge of my 'vision'. He's sitting with his back to the fire, fiddling with a small axe-like weapon as he stares into the darkness beyond.

I think I'll end this one here, nothing much is going on. Might as well get a few hours of pseudo-sleep too, if anything happens I'm sure I'll wake up. Gooooodnight notepad. G'night group of strange humans.

....goodnight cave, for the millionth time.