Clark slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his gaze had become exceptionally stern.
"Nonsense!"
This was the first time in the thousands of years since Benjamin had become Clark's disciple that he had heard his mentor use such a tone.
"Do you know what your greatest mistake was?"
Benjamin fell silent for a moment. "I underestimated the Fate Law."
"No." Clark shook his head.
"On the contrary, you overestimated yourself."
Clark looked at him, his gaze sharp enough to seem capable of piercing the soul.
"The reason fate is dangerous has never been the knowledge itself, but because those who wield it grow increasingly lax—and increasingly arrogant. The information handled by fate abilities inherently has no upper limit. Ask it a question, and it will try to answer."
"And the amount of information required to answer a question can, with one careless misstep, exceed the limit any living being can bear." His tone grew sterner as he spoke.
"I will not elaborate further on the relevant concepts. You should have known them long ago. Yet despite knowing all this, you still dared to use the Plane Origin directly to search an entire region. That is proof of your carelessness!"
"That was not research. That was courting death!"
Benjamin lowered his head slightly. "Yes."
Clark continued, "High-level wizards need courage to explore the unknown."
"But high-level wizards who truly live long possess one more thing."
"Reverence! Without reverence, no matter how outstanding one's talent is, it merely makes death arrive a little sooner."
"Learn to balance courage and reverence. In other words, learn to control risk. This is a lifelong lesson for every wizard!"
Benjamin was silent for a long while before finally nodding solemnly.
"Mentor, I will remember it."
Seeing that he did not argue, Clark's expression