I can feel my brain... being changed. I can somehow sense the system itself modifying my very brain. This is more than just expanding my knowledge. This is a series of modifications to my actual mind and not just my knowledge, isn't it? To what end? What am I gaining? What am I... losing?
Are my senses changing? I can... see something.
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Althos quietly and nervously pondered the sorts of changes being made to his own mind and his senses. He nervously wondered what he was gaining as a result of the system taking great pains to modify him.
One of the last thoughts he had before being overwhelmed by a variety of new sensations was that he could see something new. This was shocking to him because after he began to radiate the intense green light that flooded the tunnel, his vision went black. He had been rendered blind to things other than living creatures, whose outlines he could still see thanks to his powers and the "Detect Souls" spell he had set to be constantly active.
His new sight revealed things to him, even in the darkness that made up his "vision" at that moment. He could clearly and accurately see fungi throughout the tunnel. Not only could he vividly make out their shapes, even through walls, but he could also see their roots digging into the ground under or around them whether they were in the water of the small river going through the tunnel, or in the very walls of the tunnel.
He had found this odd at first, but after a few seconds, he found the proximity of fungi relaxing. He felt happy knowing that he was near creatures the new parts of his brain wanted him to view as his children. He rejected that instinct to feel that they were his children or his kin, but being so close to them was helpful while he transitioned into a new state of mind.
His mind was steadily resisting some of the greater changes the system wanted to impose on his attitude, but subtler new changes, ones that told him to be fond of fungi and to be a bit protective of them, were readily accepted. His perception of himself was unchanged, but his perception of the world was changed a bit. And it wasn't just his mind that was different.
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Within the bright green light, he was radiating his body was changing. At the moment the deity's physical form wasn't changing, but that was because the system was focusing on tackling things one at a time, not rushing through the process.
The system made a curious decision about what order to tackle its changes in, internal ones first and then external ones. The deity wasn't able to bleed. If he had been cut before this moment he would have leaked magical energy, energy which he could have manipulated at will.
Something new was occurring: instead of blood or magical energy flowing through his body, spores were. Spores which responded to his will, and would seek to fulfill it, especially if the deity were ambushed and cut as part of an aggressive attack.
The deity was effectively being transformed into a deceiver, a fungal creature with the appearance of a humanoid.
Althos could feel the spores filling his veins. He could feel them flowing through him, and he didn't hate the alien sensations they made him feel.
It was after this that the changes to his external form began. These changes were only visible if Althos made the choice to appear in his divine form.
The first changes were the most obvious. One of them was that mushrooms and other fungi began to appear on his body. A large mushroom spontaneously began to grow out of the top of the creature's head. It was a tall thing, nearly half a meter tall, complete with a large red cap and green scales.
It also came into being with its own supply of thick spores that the deity could rain down on those close to him with but a thought, knowledge which sprung into his mind at the same time as the mushroom emerging out of the top of his head.
Another change to his divine form included the emergence of thick and nearly a quarter of a meter long proboscises, one out of the back of each of his hands. The needle-like appendages weren't intended to allow him to drink blood from enemies, but to allow him to inject enemies and allies alike with his spores. He was granted instinctual knowledge of the sort of mental commands and physical motions needed to do this.
His palms mutated from being the solid surfaces they had been, to being gill-like spaces which he could use to fire spores at other creatures, or into nearby soil so that he could speedily and effectively plant spores. Armorlike fungal plating and thick moldy growths spontaneously and rapidly grew to protect the flesh of his body.
The system then finished its modifications to Althos. The first steps of his transformation into a fungal god were now complete. And seconds later, the green light that radiated out of the deity began to fade.
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The creature that emerged from the radiant green light was clearly Althos, but a very different Althos. Althos' allies, even the advisors in his mind, were shocked at the deity's transformation.
The creature was now an odd fusion of monstrous-looking martial angel and fungal monster. Between the three mushroom caps that sprung out of his body, one of which sprung from the top of his head, the vicious proboscises that had come out of his thick hands while he was radiating green light, and the mold that covered some of his skin, he was definitely a different looking creature than he had been mere seconds ago.
The mushroom above him, not the one sprouting from his head but the one that was actually above him, was going positively wild. It was bouncing so intensely it looked as if it may somehow free itself from the wall it was rooted too.
Its roots were going to hold, but the strange lifeform felt... sentient to those who looked at it. Its mysterious behavior was unlike the behavior of any sort of fungus Althos' followers had ever seen, behavior which consisted of normally just sitting down and absorbing nutrients from wherever they happened to be growing. Not engaging in what was clearly a dance.
After looking at Althos, they looked at it. They watched its joyous dance, consisting of the creature bouncing rapidly as if enthralled to some alien melody and were unaware that their master was conversing with it. The deity, still absorbing what he could see that he had previously been blind too, was physically silent but was mentally quite vocal. Just not to them.
Their master was still, calm and undisturbed by the mushroom's behavior. Althos merely accepted the mushroom's joy. He was the picture of a stoic deity at that moment, standing in the river, and silently thinking. He was merely reflecting on the mushroom above him and was quietly grateful to it. He swore that he would return soon, but knew that he needed to continue his journey.
But moments later the deity walked out of the river and began to resume his journey down the tunnel. He mentally reached out to his servants and worshipers and commanded them to follow him.
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After a few minutes of silent traveling, the deity spoke to his followers. He channeled his ability to speak in the universal language of the gods and spoke loud enough that he was heard by everyone at once.
"I am now the god of fungi. It was sudden, but apparently fungi had been godless for... eons even during the age of gods. I was asked to be their deity and I accepted it."
Althos paused for a second, thinking about what else he needed to say. He then remembered that his followers were visibly shocked by his appearance, something he noticed when he heard their quickened heartbeats after the green light he radiated faded away.
"I am not JUST the god of fungi, but it's the first thing I'm the actual god of so... I guess it had an effect on my appearance? But I think, though I'm unsure, this is just affecting my divine form. If I disguise myself I'm pretty sure I'll be able to hide my fungal features."
After he said that he reflected on it for a second. Then he decided to test it. He envisioned his body changing as he took his next step and felt his powers begin to take hold. He willed away his fungal features and concentrated on molding himself a new form, a form modeled after the dark elves he had convinced to become his servants and worshipers.
The effects of his choice were instantaneous and in the time it took for him to take a step he shifted into a new form. This new form was smaller than his divine form had been, and was modeled quite clearly after Drow the dark elf with oracular abilities.
Althos' new form had the same skin tone, hair color, and eye color as the dark elf but with a more masculine upper body and thicker arms. He was also still taller, having lost a few dozen centimeters in height but still being taller than his followers, aside from Raverangos.
The deity was half nude, wearing no shirt or clothing on his upper body. His lower body was clad in naturally generated clothes, trousers made of fungal fibers, which he could peel off if he ever felt like it. They were nice looking and felt comfortable on the deity's body.
His upper body was affected by his influence over the hand to hand subdomain, and due to that, his chest was thickly muscled, causing his female worshipers to feel their faces flush at the unexpectedly attractive form he took on. He quickly sent everyone a new mental message after taking on this strange, yet pleasing to look at form.
[Well? How do I look? Still all mushroomy? Or am I more conventional-looking now?]
His followers quickly responded to him, sending him affirmative messages that satisfied him and hinted that at least some of them were themselves satisfied. He ignored the lusty parts of their messages and focused on the journey ahead of them.
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The act of merely exploring the tunnel was enough to empower Althos' fungal aspects even though at the moment they were not physically present. Massive bioluminescent mushrooms were present throughout the tunnel, mushrooms that eagerly accepted Althos as their lord and guardian within seconds of exposure to his aura.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Althos' innate aura of magical energy was now enhanced to be particularly powerful for fungi, capable of spontaneously mutating them and granting them previously unknown levels of awareness and sentience.
As he passed them these mushrooms would be fully exposed to his aura of fungal superiority which made them subservient to him, while his fondness for mind magic also suffused his aura and benefited any creatures who converted to his worship.
His mere existence coupled with closeness to them was enough to convert the creatures that humanoids had long viewed as mindless to his worship, and this brought the deity strange, alien joy as he felt his wards readily accept him as their master.
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As Althos neared his fourth mushroom, the mushroom that if it joined him would have been worshiper number ten, he wondered what the experience was like for the vaguely sentient fungi. He was curious about what they must have felt whenever he drew close by.
The fungi itself had been vaguely excited since the glowing green light had covered its body. Minutes ago, while in the middle of being transformed by the system, Althos had radiated light, a light that filled any fungi who felt it with tremendous energy and a lot of euphoric joy.
The mushrooms that had been felt the light had reacted by engaging in intense physical activity, which had universally consisted of the fungi rocking back and forth in delirious delight. They had been overcome by a sense of mania, a mania which included audible hallucinations of Althos calling out to them and asking him to join him. They wanted too. None of the fungi in the tunnel possessed the intelligence needed to wish to resist the deity.
Other symptoms of this mania included a flood of energy so powerful that to resist the urge to use that energy was unthinkable. This strange flood of energy was what compelled the fungi to move around, shaking, bouncing, and engaging in other physical activities that would have looked odd to any mycologists who observed them, had any been in the tunnel to do so.
The mushroom Althos was looking at, that he hoped would be his 4th fungal family member, had already accepted Althos as its family member. The mushroom had easily been gripped by Althos' accidentally inflicted mania. Until that point in time, it had been barely sentient, with a minimal amount of self-awareness, so the incredible power of Althos' aura had overrun it and suffused its mind without any real challenge at all.
The fourth mushroom was the last one that had been hit by the light. The mushroom sensed the proximity of its "family member", as Althos approached it. Once his aura was within a few meters of it, the creature began to once again feel the same manic energy it had possessed before. Althos grinned as he watched it begin to move, swaying back and forth slowly but gradually increasing in speed with each step Althos took in its direction.
Once Althos was within five steps of it, the deity's aura overwhelmed the fungal creature and the creature was asked something three other mushrooms had been asked as well:
[Alert: The Fungal Lord has risen and is in close proximity to you. The Fungal Lord is the guardian and deity of all fungi, including extraplanar fungi, shambling fungal, and mobile fungal creatures. He is also a new deity, and was initially modeled after a humanoid but has now transformed and become something else.
The Fungal Lord is a deity of fungi, curiosity, and memories. He seeks to protect and guide all fungal creatures and wishes to create places that are safe habitats for them to live and thrive in. He is currently roaming the multiverse in search of those he seeks to protect and when he comes across fungi he will approach them, aid them, and protect them. He seeks to bless and guide not just fungi but also druids and clerics of spores and mycelium.
Do you wish to worship the Fungal Lord?]
The fungus did its own fungal version of answering in the affirmative, and Althos received a notification of his own.
[Alert: Congratulations! You've just gained your 10th worshiper.
Your current worshiper count is 10. Here's a breakdown of your cult in chronological order:
2 orcs
1 great frog
3 dark elves
4 bioluminescent fungi
None of your followers are mindless, though the fungi were only a bit intelligent before your aura of fungal superiority mixed with your fondness for awakening creatures and created something that doesn't have a big effect on humanoids but does affect non-humanoids, especially fungi in interesting ways.
As soon as you will away this notification you will receive an update to your H.U.D. that lets you see the health, status, and powers of your worshipers. Once you gain 50 worshipers you will gain another update that lets you use their powers! So far you can already do anything any of your worshipers can do... if that changes though, then that'll be awesome.]
Althos willed the notification away and did see that the system was being forthright with him. He could see a new icon at the top of his vision that contained a stylized image of one of the mushrooms.
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The aura that surrounded him was powerful innately, but the more worshipers he gained the stronger it became. By the time he gained his fourth mushroom worshiper, the aura was strong enough to penetrate the rocky walls that supported the tunnel his party traveled through.
As the fungal lord, his aura suffused everything around him, enhancing fungal creatures and also enhancing his more mobile servants.
He was still fairly ignorant about his holistic aura outside of its usages on fungi. What awareness of its effects on humanoids he did have he had because its pleasantness was one of the things that convinced Milene to worship him before she gave him a copy of her mind.
What he understood, on a basic level at least, was his aura of fungal superiority. Because of his awareness of it, he sought not only the massive, glowing mushrooms but also ones whose roots he could sense through the walls in front of him.
In time his aura extended far enough to reach them and to begin to infuse even mushrooms in other tunnels, tunnels he hadn't seen, with his power. That brought a grim grin to Althos' face.
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One of the areas the green light had shone upon was the lair of the slime demon, which was located in a part of the tunnel deeper than where Althos and his allies were. Though the demon hadn't been there when the light radiated outward from Althos, the demon had been skulking near the river, its pseudopod pouring pollutants into it and this caused the demon to be touched by the light.
This radiant energy affected the demon's thoughts and stability.
What is that!? This feeling... this light... there's something... terrifying about this. I... want to run, but where could I go? What can I do? I must... flee!
This exposure to the radiant energy that Althos had been freely radiating infuriated the creature, who found the feeling of radiant energy disturbing and mind-altering. The demon had felt a bit of fear while the light was touching its gelatinous form but in the aftermath of its exposure to the energy was humiliated and infuriated. It began to crawl down the tunnel in the direction the energy had come from, its mind aflame with rage.
As the creature began to ooze its way towards Althos and his followers its mind was afflicted with the same rage that burned in every demon's soul. Normally for ooze demons, such fire was easy to put out temporarily, but after weeks of dwelling within the tunnel and being unafraid of most things, to be randomly hit by such powerful and terrifying energy did affect the being, it shook its mind and relit the burning rage it normally smothered. Wiser demons would have smothered that rage. But this demon? This demon really leaned into it instead.
I will find whatever was responsible... and when I do? Their end will be long, drawn-out, and cruel.
Unfortunately for the demon, Althos wouldn't try to hide from it. And the tunnel was straight. There were no turns for either of them to make that may have caused them to not encounter each other.
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The encounter with the one responsible for the bear's aggression happened accidentally and was over in a flash. Althos hadn't known that the demon was approaching until it got within two hundred meters of the deity. The moment it did Althos immediately sensed it.
Althos sensed the powerful, corruptive energies the demon radiated in an aura around itself. The aura wasn't entirely unlike Althos' own mutagenic and transformative aura aside from the fact that the demon's aura corrupted its surroundings, whereas Althos' merely changed creatures around him, giving them pleasant sensations and also sharpening their wits.
The demon was oozing towards Althos, moving at a shockingly quick pace despite the oddity and effort it took to propel oneself using a pseudopod. The creature was hurtling itself at the deity, eager for blood to satiate the rage that filled it in response to what it felt was a humiliating experience.
Althos could sense the aura and he was intrigued by it. It took just two minutes for the ooze to cross distance between Althos and his party.
In looking at it, Althos saw a tiny red blob perhaps a meter across, shaking with rage and energy as it crawled at him and his followers quite rapidly. Althos wondered if he should cut it down, but then remembered that it was a demon.
Demons are neat. It'd be nice if I tame this one as well.
Althos' first familiar was the demon Raverangos. He had grown quite fond of the imposing sentinel demon, and at a glance figured that the ooze demon, a creature his familiar was relatively unfamiliar with, looked intriguing. But the demon made a mistake. It attacked.
The demon launched a quick attack consisting of firing transforming ooze-pellets at Althos and at Althos' allies, pellets that came from within itself. A few of its bullet-like pellets sailed at Althos, aimed for the center of his mass, and a few sailed higher, most likely intending to fly over him and drop on his allies.
The ooze-pellets burst into flames in mid-air and Althos realized that they were an attack. This caused the deity's eyes to narrow in consternation.
The encounter ended in the blink of an eye. Althos allowed the pellets aimed at him to hit him, the flames fading away instantly as they did and inflicting no damage to the deity. He defended his allies through a demonstration of quick reflexes, by transforming his left hand into a massive appendage, taller and wider than the rest of his body and using it like a catchers' mitt to catch the pellets in mid-air.
The failure of its attack caused the ooze demon to freeze up. Its pellets were powerful, and it wanted to inflict terror on its enemies so it even willed them to burst into flames in mid-air. Its failure stunned it, which led to it being a motionless target for Althos' counterattack.
The deity turned his cold gaze onto the ooze demon after successfully repelling its attack. His attitude was quite simple: he wouldn't intentionally do harm to anyone who didn't attack him and his allies. But he was no fool. He recognized an attack when he saw one. So he readied his own attack. It was quite simple, a brutal physical assault.
The deity struck once. That was all it took. He lashed out at the demon using his enlarged left hand to grotesquely smash the demonic entity into the ground and shatter the ooze that made up the creature's physical form.
Normally such an attack would have been rendered ineffective due to the liquidy body of the creature. But the single attack caused the body of the demon to be dispersed, as the attack cracked the tunnel that the demon sat on. The attack was so powerful it caused cracks to form in the tunnel and made the formerly level area very unlevel.
The resulting holes in the floor each had different bits of the demon's oozy body. Because of this the creature couldn't reform a large enough mass to hold its soul, and after a few seconds passed the creature's spirit was silently banished back to the Heart of Darkness, a process Althos didn't see due to him not yet having removed his limb from the area, but he was made aware of it due to a notification he received.
[Multi-part alert:
You have banished the Filth Demon back to the Heart of Darkness. This is the equivalent to killing them, but since they are extraplanars killing them while in the mortal plane is... extremely difficult. Normally when a demon is "slain" in the mortal plane they are instead banished back to the Heart of Darkness. You've gained experience!
Quest update: You've dealt with the source of the bear's aggression! Congratulations! With this if you don't kill another innocent bear and you complete the rest of the quest's conditions you will gain the best possible reward.]
Althos grinned at this and felt satisfied with it. When he removed his enlarged hand from the area, he moved his other hand so as to cast a spell that would cause the tunnel to be repaired.