This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 317 [Kaligan Crystal]
Artificial empathy?

This phrase struck a chord with Nie Weiyang. Listening intently to the other's thoughts, he quickly realized: it was the artificial empathy technology he knew. A technology from a previous civilization, perhaps one of the causes of the space station's demise…

How did this word end up here?

Nie Weiyang released his senses, and subtly, he could feel that the faint light emitted by the crystals around him seemed to form layers of curtains, filtering and blocking everyone's mental power layer by layer. Even he, after entering the range of light from these crystals, could only extend his mental power five hundred meters... If the others here did not have special items—such as something that would exempt them from that painful attack—they would probably only be able to perceive the outside world through sight and hearing, just like ordinary people on Earth.

Nie Weiyang marked these crystals in his mind; they felt very familiar to him, and there must be something wrong with them.

"What do we do now?" one of the cultists kicked his convulsing companion. "They're all unconscious! The ritual wasn't even finished and it's already turned into this! This experiment and the energy recording are both ruined!"

"What can we do?!" Another tall, thin cult member, seemingly the leader, scratched his head in frustration. "The inhibitor almost overloaded! There's nothing any of us can do!"

"Damn it, we've really messed this up..." the third voice trembled. "If Mainstream Mountain finds out we've botched this..."

These words sent a chill down the spines of all the remaining believers who were still standing. Nie Weiyang could hear a name flash through their minds: the Second Sun Lord.

It was a figure in red robes, similar to yet different from the previous Sun Lord—this generation of Sun Lord gave Nie Weiyang a sense of danger that was even more familiar.

This sparked a thought in him, leading to countless speculations.

The tall, thin leader pondered for a moment, then slowly looked at the people lying haphazardly on the ground, including the unconscious cultists and a few who were still convulsing unconsciously.

“We can’t let them live,” he said.

"What?" The scarred cultist was taken aback, then realized, "These are all our own people! And there are dozens of them..."

"One of us? Joining a faction makes you one of us?" The tall, thin leader sneered, his voice lower and carrying a subtle chill: "Look at them, their mental seas have been shattered. Even if they wake up, they'll be idiots."

"With them, how can we carry out our work or travel? If we leave them behind, what if one of them is lucky enough to climb back to Mount Sumeru, or is found by people from other outposts... Don't you know the temperament of the Sun God?"

Thinking about it in your heart is one thing, but actually mentioning the sun god is another.

At that moment, all the believers breathed heavily. Fear spread through the shimmering crystal canopy.

"Then... what should we do?" a trembling voice asked.

The tall, thin leader uttered two words through clenched teeth: "Circulation."

There was a brief silence.

The scarred cultist swallowed hard: "All...all of them? Even Lee and the others...?"
"He even helped me fix my weapon yesterday..."

"Li is finished!" the tall, thin leader roared, pointing to a cultist who was foaming at the mouth and whose eyes were completely glazed over: "Do you think there's any hope for him?"
"We are in dire straits ourselves, so we must clean things up and leave no evidence behind!"
"Anyway, the Kaligan Crystal can block out any noise here. Let's deal with this quickly, and then we'll pretend nothing happened and say they died at the hands of monsters and world bosses!"

He looked around at the other minor leaders: "Don't forget why we're here... to prepare tools for the Sun Lord and the Venerable One!"

"There's a problem with the experiment now..."

He pointed inside the cave.

"...The array on the ground is also destroyed. Whether we can even scrape out the energy records from the experiment is another matter. "If word gets out...we'll all have to feed the 'skull donors'!"

The word 'skull donor' seems to be more terrifying than 'circulation'.

The few hesitant underlings immediately shuddered and stopped objecting. Nie Weiyang could see a colossal figure in their minds, like a centaur, yet seemingly not of human height.

"Okay... loop."

One of the leaders gritted his teeth, a ruthless glint in his eyes: "Today, our merciful believers have contributed themselves to the great cause of our return... Hurry up and drag them all into the cave!"

“That one is still breathing, and it doesn’t seem like the damage is that severe…” One of the cult members in charge of the examination pointed to Nie Weiyang, who was pretending to be unconscious.

The tall, thin leader waved his hand impatiently: "Who cares if he's angry or not, deal with him together!"
"Include those who are unconscious or unresponsive; leave no one alive!"

……

Nie Weiyang remained silently 'unconscious'.

While being dragged along, he pieced together more information from fragmented thoughts.

These faintly glowing crystals can interfere with or even block mental perception; they are called 'Caligan Crystals'.

These seemingly beautiful colorless and blue crystals, with their varying shades of light, gently envelop the entire cave space. However, they are not benevolent. According to tests conducted by the Returning Church, Kaligan crystals possess both biological corrosiveness and spiritual isolation properties, capable of slowly eroding the plant and animal tissues they come into contact with.

Yes, they can grow inside living organisms—yet another parasite.

The parasites on this planet are so numerous they're almost repulsive.

In short, a parasitized organism is itself a moving vein of Kaligan crystals, bringing the crystal's properties and infectiousness wherever it goes.

Currently, all discovered Kaligan crystal veins exist only in a few caverns within the 'Creation of the Planet'. There is speculation that these crystals may be a single entity, potentially leading to a single, massive main vein.

However, aside from isolating the senses, no other uses for the Kaligan crystals have been discovered—in the eyes of these believers, these beautiful yet dangerous and ornate crystals have only one name, and all other information is obscured by the black cubes.

Nie Weiyang seemed to be deep in thought. As he was being dragged around the next corner, his hand brushed against a small crystal on the ground and held it between his fingers.
-
[Kaligan Crystal]
Crafting materials (gold)
Spellcasting medium (gold)
Natural mental isolation (gold) -
Mind forging, and the forging of minds.
Primordial Crystal.
• Through spiritual transformation, it can replace any gold or lower-grade materials during the casting process of ritual machinery.

This beautiful mineral, once abundant in the solar system amidst the mist, has been destroyed by the destructive mining activities of [unspecified entity], leaving only one Caligan crystal vein on Saturn's sixth moon in the solar system today.
-
Nie Weiyang gently stroked the crystal with his fingers, finally understanding where that sense of familiarity came from.

Last week, in the final moments of his life, during that siege, his mental perception was constantly suppressed. In his perception at that time, it seemed that enemies were everywhere. A feeling of being surrounded by enemies, his spirit being under immense pressure, and having no hope left enveloped him...

too familiar.

That suffocating mental isolation and suppression is probably the effect of the Kaligan Crystal—but there must be some means to amplify the Crystal's influence!

Wow... that's really well-prepared!

(End of this chapter)