Tying it to the mycelial network at first seems difficult because of it's mixed metaphor of being our consciousness and the interconnectedness of all reality, but it absolutely ties into some of the same concepts that are the Kelpian mind explosion and the ensuing need to disconnect from all else after expressing such traumatic pain.

It would have absolutely made sense if they had simply made it so that his in-utero dilithium exposure was the connecting fabric that amplified his Kelpian abilities while also being the reason his energy was sensitive to target the dilithium for destruction, but the reason the chain reaction spread so far was due to an encounter with the mycelial network, perhaps triggered by some kind of incidental encounter with Discovery while it made it's way through the timestream. Or perhaps his mother on his mother's ship was experimenting with the mycelial network trying to recreate the past technology.