Evil and Black Magic were the earliest forms of magic mastered by wizards.
Zheng Qing mulled over his teacher's somewhat "politically incorrect" assertion and felt a subtle sense of familiarity, as if he had heard something similar somewhere before.
His teacher, however, paid no attention to the young wizard's brief distraction and continued speaking slowly:
"—Throughout the long centuries, there have always been wizards who held fast to darkness. Hmm, you may think 'held fast' sounds a little too neutral. 'Obsessed' would work too. In any case, wizards obsessed with darkness existed not only on Puji Island and at First University, but throughout the entire Alliance. Of course, I am not saying that the Fallen Wizards of the Withered Land are in any way noble—darkness is the simplest and easiest path, which is why it draws wizards into it one after another.
"What I mean is that even among wizards inclined toward darkness, there are extremists. They conducted one evil experiment after another, believing that this was the proper path to seeking truth. Their faith in darkness was no different from that of Atlas's most devout ascetics. The only difference was that the directions of their faith were like the two ends of a yin-yang symbol, utterly opposed."
At the mention of "Atlas,"
Zheng Qing finally realized where that faint sense of familiarity had come from—the Gnosticism, an extremist sect that believed "evil is necessary good" and "doing evil is doing good." Professor Yi had briefly commented on this sect during a divination class. Even earlier, when Zheng Qing had been illegally detained by Thomas, he had heard him mention related ideas.
What his teacher had just said—that "evil experiments are the correct path to pursuing truth"—coincided perfectly with Gnosticism's beliefs. It made him think of Professor Monteria, and of