When the crystal rain ceased, the warning words on the Ancient Parchment suddenly rearranged themselves, transforming into elegant, golden script:
“Crown of Heart: First Stage Resonance Complete”
“Current Synchronization Rate: 37%”
“Unlocked Ability: Emotion Feedback (Able to Reverse Purify Polluted Crystals)”
Liang Lai suddenly heard the faint sound of sobbing. Guided by the Silver Thread, she discovered the sound actually came from her own chest.
In those old scars she thought had already healed, the original owner’s lingering Self-Destruction Emotion was sealed.
At this moment, it transformed into pale violet Crystal Powder, drifting and heartbreakingly beautiful in the moonlight.
She finally understood why she’d always been overloaded before—it was like trying to fill a leaking vessel with fine wine; no matter how intense the emotion, it would seep away through the cracks of self-denial.
But now…
Liang Lai gently pressed her hand to her chest, feeling the pulse of a newborn Crystal there.
So, the beginning of all emotion… was, unexpectedly, loving oneself.
It was a question Liang Lai had never pondered before.
She loved the children she’d picked up, loved those around her who had helped her, loved all kind people, and cherished every living being—yet she’d forgotten how to call it “self-love.”
Liang Lai’s fingertips traced the new golden patterns emerging on the Ancient Parchment.
As the Second Page slowly unfurled, the air in the study abruptly became thick and viscous.
Countless tiny crystals floated in the air, refracting dizzying, kaleidoscopic colors.
“Intermediate Resonance: Humanity’s Threefold Movement”
“Prism of Truth: The Lies Crystal that Sees Through All Disguises”
“Crown of Kindness: The Compassion Crystal that Heals Soul Wounds”
“Echo of Beauty: The Hope Crystal that Revives What Has Withered”
“Truth, kindness, beauty, is it? Interesting… but it suits me perfectly.”
Liang Lai smiled.
Self-awareness is what makes a person precious, she thought. She was truly kind, not falsely so—genuinely kind.
Beneath the text, three floating three-dimensional Runes appeared: a transparent prism, a golden ring, and a swirling rainbow vortex.
As soon as Liang Lai touched the Rune representing the “Prism of Truth,” a sharp pain stabbed at her temple.
This prism was actually made of countless miniature human faces, each repeating different versions of lies.
“Ugh…”
Forcing herself to endure the discomfort, she immersed her consciousness in the Rune and immediately witnessed a chilling sight:
Deep in Dolosa’s left eye was half a black Crystal Needle; in Asterys’s doll’s abdomen, a shadow curled; even in Illucy’s scraped knee, an unnatural purple light flickered.
“These are… hidden dangers embedded in the children?”
Just as Liang Lai was about to probe deeper, a rush of warm fluid surged through her nose.
A drop of fresh blood landed on the Rune, and those tiny faces instantly lunged at it hungrily**.
As the scent of blood spread, the scene inside the prism warped and twisted, finally settling on the Holy See Hall Underground Sanctuary, where Pope Alphonse VII was injecting some kind of black crystal into the eye of a comatose, young Dolosa.
“Cough!”
She abruptly severed the connection, blood mixed with crystalline flecks seeping between her fingers as she covered her mouth and nose.
A blood-red warning appeared on the Ancient Parchment:
“True Sight Overload: Current Soul Strength Insufficient for Complete Deconstruction”
Liang Lai wiped her nosebleed with a wry smile and turned to the second Rune, the “Crown of Kindness.”
This time she was wiser; she wrapped her fingertip with a silver Crystal of self-compassion before touching it.
The golden ring chimed like a wind bell, releasing a warm current scented faintly of herbs.
Yet when Liang Lai tried to simulate healing Illucy’s leg injury, the Crown suddenly grew impossibly heavy.
The golden light turned into thorns piercing her arm, and under her skin appeared bruises identical to Illucy’s.
Ink seeped out from the blank space on the page:
“Compassion Backlash: Healing Without Understanding Pain Is Mere Pretentious Numbing”
The strangest was the third Rune, the “Echo of Beauty.”
As soon as the rainbow vortex was activated, it began frantically absorbing all surrounding light; Liang Lai’s right fingertip withered in an instant, wrinkling like that of an old woman.
She quickly broke the connection, only to see the once-revived rose on the corner of the desk decaying rapidly before her eyes.
“Warning: Forced Bloom Corruption—Beauty That’s Forced to Emerge Only Hastens Decay”
Liang Lai collapsed into the armchair, staring at her still-trembling hands. The three Runes left afterimages on her retinas, merging into dizzying, multicolored spots of light.
Suddenly realizing something, she seized the Feather Pen and wrote along the parchment’s edge:
“Truth requires courage.”
“Kindness requires a price.”
“Beauty requires restraint.”
The ink was instantly absorbed, and new annotations surfaced on the page:
“The essence of Intermediate Resonance is balance.”
“It’s like juggling three crystal balls at once.”
“The point isn’t to catch them, but to let them maintain a beautiful trajectory.”
The dawn sunlight slipped into the study through the window.
Liang Lai noticed the floating Crystal Dust arranged itself in the sunlight into a DNA Double Helix.
When she tried to guide it with her newly realized concept of “balance,” the three Runes suddenly spun around her, light as feathers.
The Prism of Truth reflected the sleeping smiles of the children; the Crown of Kindness smoothed the bruises on her arm; and the Echo of Beauty restored the luster to her withered fingertip.
Though a trace of crystal blood again trickled from her nose, this time Liang Lai smiled knowingly.
“So that’s how it is…”
She wiped away the blood, watching as the crystals refracted a rainbow in the morning light.
“True resonance was never about seizing by force.”
Yet she couldn’t help but sigh deeply.
“But I still haven’t grasped the true essence…”
Her body felt drained, her nose bleeding again, dripping onto the tabletop.
Liang Lai wiped away the blood once more and, exhausted, stood up.
“That’s enough… Looks like I still need to comprehend this for a while. This Intermediate level is much harder than the Basic one, and the side effects are too much…”
Her head spun dizzily, and Liang Lai braced herself against the table.
She needed to rest, or she might faint right then and there.
Staggering and clinging to the wall, Liang Lai made her way back to her room, collapsed onto the bed, and buried herself under the covers in deep sleep.
This time, she rested for two whole days.
During this period, Dolosa, Asterys, and Delucia all behaved much more quietly.
Instead of making a racket, they focused intently on their practice (only Dolosa and Asterys practiced the Crystalization Ability, since Delucia, being Shadowborn, couldn’t learn it), and even started competing fiercely with each other.
Illucy also became much more obedient, likely because Liang Lai now spent over two hours each day accompanying him.
Even if she only sat quietly nearby doing her own things, it made Illucy feel very much at ease.
Time flashed by, and half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
“Dolosa, Asterys, don’t be nervous about the assessment later.”
Liang Lai helped straighten the collars of the two children’s clothes.
Dolosa looked far more anxious than Asterys, glancing repeatedly at the mirror and the human-skin mask on her own face.