The stronger it is, the more forbidden the knowledge, the harder it is to resist this desire.
——Knowledge Addiction.
This is the downfall of these scholars and mages, a mental addiction almost impossible to cure.
In their mad thirst for knowledge, their personality and morals gradually crumble. Even when they appear normal in everyday life, once it involves taboo knowledge, they will pay any price without hesitation — wealth, family, life... even the entire world.
And at this moment, the mages present are also among these poor souls.
But unlike other mages who initially joined the treason, they have cautiously hidden their identities, even refraining from pillaging the tempting fragments of knowledge from the Guild's forbidden book section after the Capital fell.
Their self-control isn't due to morality or conscience but because they have a more specific goal — to execute the command of the Key of Transformation at the crucial moment.
