Played for 3 hours and 41 minutes today for a total of 19 hours 26 minutes. Yesterday I found the boss Brooding Mawlek which kicked my butt initially. So today I went back and after the fourth attempt and some charm changes, I finally got his wall of goo down for dodging so the rest was easy. Used Joni's Charm since I had no way to heal effectively in the fight. Anyways, I beat him and he gave me a piece of a mask, which finally gave me enough pieces for another health upgrade.
After him I decided to explore Fungal Wastes some more so I went down there and bought the fragile strength and heart charm from that ant bug. Continued exploring the upper-left side and found Spore Shroom charm which is insane. If I found that earlier in the game it would have made a number of bosses a lot easier. Next on my list was finding the fast travel station for Fungal Wastes because I neglected to find it my first time through. Soon I found it rather easily and I am knocking myself for missing it initially. Just a little to the right outside the station there is a shard which I collected, leaving only one left to upgrade my soul. Satisfied, I went above and found a new area called Fog Canyon. Tough section to navigate because of the homing missles enemies launch at you when you kill them. Exploring around I found Millibelle the Banker and gave her 2500 of my geo since I had 5300 on hand. I went looking for Cornifer up above but couldn't find him, so I quit exploring Fog Canyon for now.
Now it was back to Fungal Waste to finally have my much anticipated rematch with Mantis Lords. Cakewalk. Beat it first try thanks to my upgraded nail and the ever-so-powerful Spore Shroom charm. Heading towards the door I unlocked a new area called Deepnest, what the fuck. Place was creepy as hell, even Cornifer wanted nothing to do with it. I had to press on so I explored the upper area of Deepnest with the winding paths and twisting turns; I saw Zote a floor below me needing help again, and noticing some other masked warrior. Both of which I failed to reach. Pressing on, I was getting hit by a bunch of new enemies as well as those train-bugs-of-sorts and only had one mask left, I fell in a claustrophobic hole and by sheer luck I landed in a hot spring with a bench. Boy was I ever so happy to fall down the right hole. I decided with my new save spot I could explore more, so I did, going deeper into the caverns and again upwards, coming across yet another bench and a character named Cloth. I saw what looked to be a tram service door and went through finding what I believe is a newish area, the Failed Tramway. I walked briefly through it before stopping at a cliff because it looked like it was a mini-boss fight if I jumped down, so I backtracked to Deepnest and went further up coming out to the underside of Greenpath.
Now Greenpath I thought I pretty much fully explored so imagine my surprise when there was still plenty to see among Greenpath. Hiking onwards, I found a new character yet again, called Moss Prophet, he didn't seem to do anything so I left him be. Made my way right and unlocked a secret passageway to Deepnest which I found to be nice because then I don't have to trek all the way from the bench to the Mantis Lords boss arena to enter Deepnest. Going back around and up towards the underside again, I went left this time and had some platforming nail-hopping I had to do. Died once which made the journey back from the Deepnest bench a pain, but completing the platforming rearded me with my final soul piece upgrade increasing my soul. I was very satisfied that in my play session today I managed to upgrade both my health and my soul.
With it getting late and myself getting tired, I decided to call it a night, so I went back to Dirtmouth to rest and quit there. Still haven't done any of the main quest bosses yet which is crazy to me. I really need to hurry up and complete the story bear minimum before Octopath comes out, because I'm dropping everything for that game.