For three long, tense days, Daniel, Lia, and Ayra had used the small, surprisingly dry cave system nestled deep within the Whispering Mire as their temporary sanctuary.
The oppressive gloom and incessant, sanity-testing whispers of the swamp made true rest a luxury, but they had managed.
Daniel's Tier 2 [Soul Assimilation] had fully recharged its thirty charges, and the potent energy from the third Golden Sun-Kissed Fruit had settled deep within him, making his S-Grade skills, the [Solar Flare Fist Art] and [Earthquake Colossus Form], feel like barely contained thunderstorms eager to be unleashed.
Lia's healing aura seemed to glow with a richer emerald light, and Ayra, after consuming her share of the golden fruit, had spent most of the three days engaged in increasingly violent "meditation" that involved creatively reshaping several large boulders at the cave's entrance with her great-axe.
Nyx, Daniel's Shadow Wolf Pup, had grown noticeably.
