Chapter 102: The Curse of Knowledge

Dorothy reluctantly packed away the magic potion box and began discussing the real reason for her visit.

“Senior, I’d like to learn about the Three Kings, especially the Demon King. The information on the Magic Web is too scattered—I’m wondering if you have any more reliable sources here, and if there’s someone who specializes in this knowledge, that would be even better.”

The Zhaimonv said with eager anticipation.

“The Three Kings?”

Upon hearing the young lady’s request, Senior Dai Na paused briefly in thought, then quickly furrowed her brow.

“Young Lady, we do have many books on the Shiji of the Three Kings—I can have someone compile a reading list for you. As for someone who specializes in this field...”

The intellectual senior adjusted her single-frame glasses, her tone growing hesitant.

“There is someone—Senior Fan Ni—but her personality...”

Dai Na shook her head and changed the subject.

“Young Lady, you’d be better off studying from the reading list yourself.”

But this only made Dorothy curious.

“What’s wrong with that senior? If it’s just a bad personality, I think I can tolerate it.”

After all, she was asking for a favor—she needed to be humble. Besides, talented people often have quirks; the Zhaimonv didn’t find that unusual.

If she couldn’t find anyone to consult, she’d have to study alone anyway—but since the True Eye Society actually had someone researching this, she’d rather not waste time.

While studying wasn’t hard for her, everyone has things they like and dislike learning.

Her interest in learning lay mainly in magical theory and application—she enjoyed the process of researching and developing new spells, but dry, boring histories of witches and biographies of famous figures held no appeal for her. Those things were tedious, made her sleepy, and were simply unbearable.

In her past life, five thousand years of history had already given her a headache; in this life, witch history spanned over a hundred thousand years, and the Shiji of the Three Kings ran through the entire history of witches—nearly every major event in witch history had the shadow of the Three Kings behind it. Studying the Three Kings was essentially studying witch history itself—even the youngest Demon King’s Shiji reached back twenty thousand years.

This was too hard.

So Dorothy figured that as long as Senior Fan Ni’s personality wasn’t utterly insane, she could probably endure it.

Facing her persistent questioning, Dai Na sighed and spoke again.

“Young Lady, have you heard of the Curse of Knowledge?”

She didn’t directly mention the senior—instead, she asked this question.

Dorothy froze, then understood, and felt a pang of exasperation.

“Ohhh, so you mean Senior Fan Ni has caught the Curse of Knowledge?”

Now she finally understood why Senior Dai Na would rather have her study alone than introduce her to the witch historian.

The Curse of Knowledge—though named a curse—is more like a psychological disorder, a troubling condition even powerful witches find difficult to handle.

As previously mentioned, witches may be incredibly powerful—some outstanding individuals are born surpassing the limits of other races—but in the realm of the mind, witches are no different from ordinary humans.

Aside from a few rare prodigies, the lives of the strongest witches atop the witch world are mostly epic, blood-and-tears-filled origin stories—they forged their strong hearts through hardship and setbacks.

Some succeeded; others failed. The glory of the successful is often uniform, but the reasons for failure are wildly varied—and the Curse of Knowledge is among the most common.

The current mainstream paths for witches are the All-Round and the All-Knowledge paths. Those who walk the All-Round path are mostly natural prodigies—no need to say more, they win by default. But the majority of witches who choose the All-Knowledge path, though it seems low in entry barriers, face risks and difficulties too obscure for outsiders to comprehend.

It’s like the saying from Dorothy’s past life: you can work hard at anything else, but if you don’t get math, you just don’t get it. The same applies to magic.

Every year, countless witches on the All-Knowledge path are driven mad by the obscure, impenetrable magical knowledge—they weep and scream, “I really can’t understand this!” yet stubbornly stay up all night studying, only becoming more unhinged the more they learn.

This is the most common form of the Curse of Knowledge—the Fool’s Frustrated Rage.

Yes, the Curse of Knowledge has many forms—it’s an umbrella term for psychological disorders triggered by knowledge, with numerous subtypes, like how cancer has many varieties.

The Fool’s Frustrated Rage is the mildest form—witches who’ve studied themselves into madness can usually be treated by hospitalization and counseling from mentalist witch doctors. But other, more severe forms of the Curse are far more troublesome.

Self-perception is a strange, subjective thing—it forms through upbringing, knowledge level, personality, and many other factors. More systematically, it’s known as the id, ego, and superego.

A simpler way to put it: instinct, emotion, and reason. (PS: I made this up for the novel—psychology experts, please don’t nitpick. I’m just a novelist; I don’t know the real science.)

People often say knowledge brings progress—and this is true. Especially for witches, who can directly convert knowledge into power: the more knowledgeable a witch, the stronger she becomes.

Others say greater power brings greater responsibility—but that’s overly idealistic.

Greater power usually means stronger desires. Not everyone has the selfless awakening to sacrifice for others. Most people who suddenly become rich don’t think, “I should donate to charity and repay my country”—they immediately buy houses, cars, and enjoy life.

This is the conflict between instinct and reason, with the self’s emotional side acting as the mediator.

Wealth works this way; knowledge does too. When a witch on the All-Knowledge path’s desire for knowledge exceeds the constraints of her emotion and reason, the Curse of Knowledge emerges—and it profoundly affects her psyche.

In simpler terms: mad scientists, fanatical truth-seekers, terrorists studying forbidden black magic—all arise from this.

Most crimes in today’s witch world stem from this. The consequences of a powerful being losing control are unimaginable—especially for witches, who are nearly divine. When they lose control, a demon god is born.

This is the true horror of the Curse of Knowledge: those who fail to learn and go mad are a minor issue. The real danger is those who master knowledge and become obsessed—this is a major problem.

For example: Zhang San, who spent his life studying law, suddenly decides to test his own research.

Is that scary?

Yes. It’s terrifying.

Now Senior Dai Na says the True Eye Society has one such Curse of Knowledge patient—and at this moment, Dorothy almost wanted to bolt out the door and run away.

.....The Zhaimonv trembles in fear.....