In the end, ownership of the gem passed from an individual to the civilization.
Nagus received ten-million-tier contribution credit, which entitled him to greater material subsidies and qualified him to study the "gem" alongside the research team.
After all, the Crystal Civilization was already an intermediate interstellar civilization. With a Supercomputer performing calculations and simulations, it had begun to attach importance to the legendary relationship of "cause and effect."
After analyzing footage of Nagus obtaining the gem, they believed there was something he had yet to disclose, something beyond what words could convey.
The appearance of something remarkable had to foreshadow something.
But the experiments that followed overturned the researchers' understanding, showing them the hardest "thing" in the world.
It did not belong to any category of matter. It might have been a relic left behind by an advanced or super civilization. It showed no response to external energy, whether electromagnetic waves, gravitational fields, or particle impacts.
Nor did it release any energy, as though it existed and yet did not.
The research team worked day and night, employing all manner of extreme methods. For two full weeks, they tried one method after another without pause, yet failed to chip off even the tiniest fragment.
As the research continued, Nagus discovered that he experienced no hallucinations when he did not touch the gem. Contact with it seemed to be the key to entering the "illusion."
The others had not come into close contact with the gem either, so none of them showed any signs of hallucinating.
Unfortunately, he had not established when the events in the "illusion" took place.
The research team's inability to obtain useful data meant that, to them, the gem's very existence was of little consequence.
They finally resorted to a near-light-speed collision using opposing, confined particles.