Every bit of noise that Marcus made felt as if it was amplified, the simple act of breathing and walking had become stifling. The light generated by his spear and spells felt as if they were fighting against a dark god in its attempts at stealing all sensation. Distance appeared no more than an illusion as a lone man marched down into the depths. All previous elation had long since melted away into a growing pit of stress in his gut. Marcus had once read that sensory deprivation was torture in it of itself and as this solitary walk into near-certain death continued it began to become his reality. He had to stop for a moment to rally his mind – the very environment of this place poison that was wearing down his defenses.

Insidious whispers latched on to every moment of weakness, each painful memory, and his very self-doubts. Each voice promised something else, let go, “Why am I fighting the inevitable... I should just...NO! I promised them I’d…”, let go, an endless bombardment of negative emotion continued to batter his weakening ego, his vision dimmed, and the light of his eyes began to fade. Marcus gripped on to a solitary memory that remained a beacon within the tempest, and found a measure of peace in its words, fear not the dark for it cannot touch you, fear not the dark for it cannot control you, and finally, fear not darkness for it only exists in the absence of light. The bizarre quote repeated for an unknown amount of time, granting a brief respite, allowing him to finally realize that what was happening wasn’t a simple panic attack, no, it was supernaturally induced.

Up until this point he hasn’t been exposed to foreign mana or magic, but this unnatural darkness assuredly was. Think clots of tar-like mana were swirling around him in a mist, and frequently portions of the ‘storm’ would spike out in an attempt to reach his head. The time he had gained from rebuffing this new enemy was fading like sand through his fingers and the second round of those nightmares would leave him as a mindless husk. Marcus needed some method that could be sustained passively – out of the corner of his eye his noticed his spear appeared to be drinking in the miasma around its blade. It wouldn’t be enough to simply wave the weapon around to get out of this, but his options included an additional path.

Typically, an infection was no more than a biological machine that required a living organism, or more specifically its cells to make more copies of itself. Thus far, at least discounting the kobolds with their symptoms, the crystals inside of him at been benign if not beneficial – for example he had a distinct lack of them growing on his skin or hijacking his thoughts. It may just take longer for that specific symptom to manifest, but at this point he was banking on their ability to absorb mana from the environment to stave off this madness. Driven to his knees as the storm around him continued to intensify – Marcus reached with trembling hands towards the Crystal Lord path and began to add his points to it. As the first of his 47 accumulated points were confirmed another notification blocked out the entirety of his vision.

Congratulations for choosing your first path, continue to strive towards exaltation! As you are the first of your kind to step onto a path, additional unique paths may become available in the future.

Crystals take on nigh infinite forms, and their uses mirror those forms. Looking up from your steps you see a massive celestial body covered in a rainbow hue that dominates the skies - Seeing it fills your body with a sense of authority as a new weight falls onto your shoulders.

Nothing happened with the first point but for every 5 invested the path he was receiving 2 Constitution, 1 Intelligence, and strangely enough 1 strength. He was getting worried, as raw stats weren’t what he desired right now, but upon reaching 25 total points invested he breathed a deep sigh of relief.

The weight of your mantle only grows heavier as you march further down the path of a Crystal Lord. All Lords over time learn to manipulate that which is central to their position - in your case, minerals.

New Skill Earned – ®Inorganic Fabrication – Level. 1 | Inorganic substances are primarily made up of minerals and form the basic building blocks of matter. Inorganic Fabrication allows for the perception, molding, reshaping, and even formation of new substances.

Quickly slotting the rest of the points and receiving nothing other than the basic statistics he closed his status to begin the next step in his idea. If he hadn’t discovered the method to manipulate the crystals in his body Marcus would have been up a creek without a paddle. The assumption was that as a Lord he’d be able to ‘rule’ over that which he was apparent in charge of - in this case minerals which included crystals. Marcus was surprised just how broad the new ability was, because due to its wording, much left open to interpretation.

Turning his attention inward he leaned heavily on his newly gifted ability and tried to feel the infection. After a couple of moments Marcus felt a pulse that seemed to radiate outwards from his chest which quickly rebound whenever it hit a large mass of anything inorganic. What came back was disturbing, most of the infection was in his blood, but more importantly it had effectively replaced all of the marrow in his bones. For those who don’t know, bone marrow is responsible for the creation of new blood cells, meaning that eventually Marcus’s original blood would be replaced with the modified type. His new physiology was fascinating as the crystal cells appeared to be functioning identically to the originals, at least at a glance, but hummed with latent energy.

What Marcus needed now was to shield himself from the field outside, and although he was loathed to do so he, he began to forcibly circulate the mutated cells towards his skull. Until now the concentration of infected cells hadn’t hit the critical threshold that was likely required for the crystals to take root in his brain and nervous system. By forcibly propelling the crystals towards his head, the accumulation was almost guaranteeing that his nervous system would become compromised, just as the rest of his body had.

Time would only tell if this course of action had been the correct one, or if his fate had already been sealed. After a minute or so had passed, he hadn’t turned into a mindless thrall - so that was good news. An additional positive, and the intended one, was a marked lessening and quick fading of the previous mental strain that had been barraging him. Looking over himself, Marcus felt fine physically, but found himself mentally exhausted. His surroundings had changed completely in the time that he was trapped within the mists – at the very least he hadn’t been walking in circles.

The new cavern Marcus found himself in radiated pure malice. Somehow this place had been the original of the attack, and even now the walls maintained its efforts at sabotaging his concentration. Streams of the tar-like energy endlessly seeped off the walls, a pungent smell filling the air with the scent of death, pustules popped along hidden recesses, and with each burst another wave of mana would crash into him. Strangely enough the waves would not rebound, or break from him, instead they were being absorbed. Tracing the remnant energy towards his brain he was shocked to discover a new construct surrounding it. Hair thin wires of crystal formed a mesh that would occasionally pulse with the same energy he had seen before, but that same pulse another would be followed with an aftershock, and by the time it would subside the tainted mana would be left cleansed. The refreshed mana would recirculate into the process, feeding into itself infinitely – a near perfect countermeasure to hostile mana, at least for attacks of this nature.

“That had been way too close, one single misstep and I would have lost myself,” Marcus said aloud. Comforted by the sound of his own voice, Marcus began to look for whatever was controlling this room. He assumed that he had gained some ability to see mana in the environment, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to follow it back to the source. Various strings of the dark mana came from the walls by an especially thick mass of the same type hung from the wall in a tumor. As if sensing his intention, the tumor opened one large eye and began to stare at him – the attacks intensified, but the bastion in his mind held firm.

Psionic Illusionist – Level 8 | Type: Mutant | Psionic beings attack by focusing on the minds of weaker prey. In this case of this specimen it has evolved by consuming large amounts of ambient mana – without proper countermeasures most creatures have no recourse other than to flee or die.

Finding the source of his problems was a relief – especially now that it had lost its primary means of defensing itself. Seeing as he wouldn’t likely find another good time to do so, Marcus took a basic stance and stabbed at the eye with his spear.

The heavy crystal spear sheared through the flesh with little resistance, after several aimed strikes, the mass detached itself from the wall – hitting the ground with a wet plop. Seeing as this room we likely to be the safest he would find; Marcus began to secure it so that he could get some much-anticipated rest. Other than the entrance he used to enter, only one other passageway existed in the cavern, and contrary to the previous tunnels they were much smaller.

Liberally applying Stone Shape to the walls, he began the excruciatingly slow process of closing the two passageways into his temporary shelter. As time passed it became discernably less demanding to mold the stone to his will, and blessedly was completed within the hour. Leaning against a wall, Marcus got as comfortable as he could while resting on hard ground – quickly slipping into dreamless sleep.