I Can Copy Curses

Orion found it strange to hear so many gasps at the same time. He wondered what the word 'Archon' meant to shock so many people present.

"Big Sister, what is Archon?" he asked quietly, turning to her.

Emily only shook her head in response.

Seeing that, Orion felt a little surprised but understood it must be one of those taboo topics that couldn't be discussed in front of so many people.

So, he didn't press further and waited for the dungeon to open.

***

On the other side, Carl Rollins, who had been introduced as a member of the Archons, looked at the shocked crowd with satisfaction. This was the reaction he had envisioned before coming here.

He had long black hair, wore a dark grey robe, and had a mark of a black flame on his forehead.

Turning to the middle-aged man who had introduced him, he ordered, "Let's open the dungeon. It should be about time for the dungeon to become stable."

The middle-aged man nodded and turned to look at the other two middle-aged men. All three exchanged glances and nodded before approaching the sparkling hill.

One of the middle-aged men took out a blue button and pressed it, causing the entire area around the hill to tremble. Almost instantly, the sparkling hill began to split apart slowly, revealing a swirling blue portal.

That was the entrance to the dungeon.

Witnessing the entire process, Orion had many questions, but since his sister refused to tell him about the Archons, he figured she wouldn't talk about this either. Therefore, he could only wait and ask her when they were inside the dungeon.

At that moment, Carl Rollins addressed everyone:

"Alright, listen well. The rank of this dungeon is platinum, so there shouldn't be any difficulty clearing it. But I should warn you to always follow my orders inside, otherwise..."

This was a blatant threat, but the people in the crowd could only nod their heads helplessly.

Orion, Emily, and Elyn frowned upon hearing this. As if remembering something, Emily quickly turned to Orion and whispered, "Don't do anything stupid."

"I know," Orion replied, his voice tinged with dissatisfaction.

Although he didn't like how Carl Rollins was ordering and threatening them, he knew he had to stay silent for now. The Dungeon Management Association was very powerful, and he couldn't afford to get on their bad side at the moment.

"Follow me," Carl ordered as he took the lead and entered the dungeon, followed by the three other men.

"Everyone, good luck," one of the middle-aged men said, giving the crowd a thumbs up as they entered the dungeon one by one.

Orion wondered if the gesture was meant sarcastically or if it was genuine goodwill.

Soon, almost half of the people had gone inside the dungeon, and it was their turn.

"Let's go," Emily said, stepping into the dungeon, followed by Orion and Elyn.

Some time later, everyone present had entered the dungeon, leaving only the three middle-aged men behind.

"Do you think they'll give it?" one of the men asked the others.

"Unless they want to get exterminated, they should give us that thing," replied the one who had previously made the announcement.

"We have come here to get that thing, and we will only leave once we have it. This is an order from above, and we will follow it," said the third man, who had remained silent until now. He had white hair instead of black and appeared slightly older than the other two.

They nodded their heads in agreement as the last one spoke.

***

On the other side, Orion was surprised to find himself in a blue cave-like structure. He could tell it was a cave by the texture of the walls and ground, but the blue color made it difficult to discern. It was a very spacious cave leading into darkness, with some pillars supporting the structure.

Orion looked around, finding it intriguing. Previously, whenever he heard the word "dungeon," he always thought of the island they were in when he first came to this world. But after seeing this dungeon, he doubted if that place was a true dungeon or not.

Carl Rollins turned back to the crowd behind him, his expression dark for some reason. "This dungeon is an open dungeon, so explore and report to me when you find the boss room," he ordered gloomily.

Everyone nodded and spread out into the distance. Orion's group of three also headed in a direction and disappeared from sight.

Only the four young men remained, including Carl.

"What's wrong, Carl?" one of them asked. He had black hair combed from the middle and an oval face. He also wore a dark grey robe like Carl.

"Nothing, Damian," Carl shook his head. "It's just that I had imagined the dungeon to be a closed one, so I'm a little disappointed to find it's an open one."

Damian arched his brows. "Eager to reach the peak of platinum rank?"

Carl nodded. "I'm just a few stat points away from reaching my peak in the platinum rank. That's why I asked the deacons to look for a dungeon so I could reach the peak quickly. But now it seems it will be a while before we find the boss room and kill the monster to obtain its core."

"Don't worry," Damian said. "Not every open dungeon has a boss room that's difficult to find."

Carl nodded and looked at the other two young men. "Let's explore the dungeon and find the boss room quickly."

They nodded and started their search for the boss room alongside Carl and Damian.

***

After heading in a certain direction with his sister and Elyn, Orion decided to separate from them midway, opting to hunt alone.

At the moment, he stood surrounded by a horde of lightning wolves, excitement gleaming in his eyes. All of these monsters were in the gold rank, two ranks above him. He figured their cores should contain at least two stat points each, and he couldn't help but laugh greedily at the sight of them.

"Hahahahaha, Frozen Torment - Curse Transformation."

As soon as he uttered those words, his left arm froze in frost, blue smoke beginning to emanate from it.

Sensing the power radiating from Orion's arm, the lightning wolves immediately attacked.

Orion waved his hand, releasing a wave of frost that froze the entire pack of wolves in ice. The lightning within their bodies was no match for his power, and they died instantly. Moments later, their bodies disintegrated into red particles, leaving behind their cores, some skill books, and a few treasures.

He used the flame from Velocity Burst to melt the ice and collected all the cores.

"I need a good weapon, but these swords and spears aren't heavy enough. They're too light," he muttered after examining the treasures. He then turned his attention to the skill books.

He noticed that the number of skill books was the lowest, followed by the treasures, with the cores being a sure drop from every monster.

"These skill books are useless to me, but I'll give them to Big Sis," he said, storing all the skill books in his storage ring along with the treasures.

Excitedly, he then turned his attention to the cores he had set aside earlier.

"It's time to absorb the stats from these cores."