Shennong stepped lightly through the fungal underbrush, the soft glow of the Lunamarite embedded in the giant walls casting long, eerie shadows across the terrain. Enormous mushrooms loomed like parasol towers, some reaching high into the dim cavern ceiling, their undersides dripping with pale bioluminescence.
The ruins of long-dead Cores lay scattered, half-swallowed by moss and twisted roots. Some resembled broken statues, others little more than rusted spires embedded in the spongy ground. One of them, oddly familiar, caught his eye—the same Core that had nearly taken his life just hours ago.
It looked… hollow now.
"Lifeless," Shennong muttered, his voice swallowed by the humidity. "You were a beast before. Now you look like you could collapse if I breathe too hard."
