I Can Copy Curses

After absorbing all the cores of the lightning wolves Orion killed just now, he opened his status to see how much his stats had increased.

'Status.'

---

[Name: Orion Darkwood]

[Rank: Iron]

[Divine Ability: Transformation]

[Talent: Copy; Curse: 18%]

[Sub Ability: Burst Mode, Curse Transformation]

[Curse: Reality Fracture, Berserk Body, Malevolent Gaze, Identity Strain, Devouring Abyss, Thunder's Wrath, Temporal Rift, Radiant Burn]

[Strength: 56]

[Stamina: 48]

[Agility: 49]

[Perception: 47]

[Constitution: 50]

[Mana: Nil]

[Skills: Nil]

---

'Hmm... almost 10 stat points increased in every stat. It's a good start,' Orion thought, feeling satisfied with the gains from absorbing the cores of the gold rank lightning wolves.

In fact, he had never experienced such a significant increase in stat points from just a few monsters before. He estimated that he had killed around 20 to 25 lightning wolves, and almost all their cores gave him around 2 stat points each.

Back when he hunted in Tocola Forest, he couldn't venture deep into the forest because of family rules. Therefore, he could only hunt near the entrance, where the quality of monsters was lower. There, he would need to hunt at least 40 monsters to achieve this much increase in stat points.

This realization made Orion even more satisfied. Most importantly, he learned that higher the rank of the monster the higher a chance of yielding 2 or more stat points per core.

'Let's go and sweep this dungeon first,' Orion thought, making his way forward.

After some minutes of exploring, he noticed that the dungeon seemed to have a blue theme, and the monsters inside were mostly, if not exclusively, wolves. Though he wasn't entirely sure of his speculation, the pattern seemed consistent.

After a while, he arrived in front of a very peculiar tree. Its leaves were wriggling with golden lightning, making the tree gleam in golden light from a distance.

Orion had initially noticed the golden light shining from afar. When he approached the source, he was surprised to find this extraordinary tree.

'Others are here too.'

Other people were present, and they seemed to recognize him. He noticed them whispering to each other and pointing at him as he approached.

In addition to the people, there were many lightning wolves surrounding the tree. Some lay on the grass near the tree, while a few roamed around as if on guard duty. The majority were eating the leaves of the lightning tree.

Orion's eyes scanned each of the lightning wolves until they stopped on one particular wolf. This one was a deep purple color, in stark contrast to the light blue wolves that made up the majority. Its size was even more remarkable, being as large as four of the normal blue wolves combined.

His interest was piqued. This purple lightning wolf was clearly special.

'It should be at the peak of gold rank. It shouldn't have reached the platinum rank, considering only the boss rank monster should be at the platinum rank in this dungeon.'

Orion mused to himself. Before parting ways with his sister, he had asked her about the classification of dungeons. She had given him a detailed description:

All dungeons were divided according to the human power system—iron, silver, gold, etc.—and further classified into three minor stages based on the level of difficulty: 1-star, 2-star, and 3-star. A 1-star dungeon had the lowest difficulty, while a 3-star dungeon had the highest.

For example, a 1-star platinum rank dungeon would have only one platinum rank monster, which would be the boss. However, a 2-star platinum rank dungeon might have additional platinum rank monsters hidden within. A 3-star platinum rank dungeon had a 100% chance of containing more than one platinum rank monster, excluding the boss.

Given this information, Orion speculated that the massive purple lightning wolf was likely at the peak of gold rank. It shouldn't have reached platinum rank, as that status would typically be reserved for the dungeon's boss monster.

His sister had informed him that this was a 1-star platinum rank dungeon, so he wasn't worried about encountering a platinum rank monster.

Orion thought as he made his way towards the wolves. However, he suddenly stopped and looked at the small crowd that had gathered nearby.

'What are they doing? They were here before me, but they haven't even started hunting.'

Shaking his head, he continued to move towards the pack of wolves. His movements immediately attracted the attention of the crowd.

"Look! Orion is going towards the wolves."

"Do you think he'll give us some cores?"

"Are you kidding me? Why would he give us the cores when he's only at the iron rank? He needs those cores more than we do."

"But I also need cores."

"Yeah, but we can't go hunting the weak wolves with that peak gold rank wolf guarding them."

The crowd murmured among themselves, pointing at Orion. They had been hesitant to hunt the wolves because none of them were peak gold rank experts, and the presence of the peak gold rank lightning wolf made them wary.

"Everyone, I have a plan," one of the men shouted lightly, drawing everyone's attention.

"What do you say we attack the lower rank lightning wolves while Orion is fighting the peak gold rank lightning wolf?" the man suggested, a cunning look on his face.

"Good plan! Let's do it then."

"Yeah, it's better than nothing, I guess."

In the end, the crowd agreed to the man's plan and waited for the battle between Orion and the peak gold rank lightning wolf.

Unaware of their plan, Orion stood in front of the lightning wolves, his one hand dancing in flames while the other bathed in frozen ice.

The wolves surrounded him from all sides, moving cautiously. He felt that they must have sensed the power emanating from both his hands. Despite this, the peak gold rank lightning wolf continued to rest in the distance, showing no intention of attacking him. Orion found this peculiar but didn't complain. He would handle the minions first before confronting the boss.

After planning how he would deal with them, Orion punched the ground with his left fist. Ice spikes erupted from the ground, spreading in all directions with him at the center. The wolves were caught off-guard and many were pierced by the ice spikes.

However, some managed to dodge the spikes and disappeared in flashes of golden light.

Orion quickly formed a flaming sword in his right hand, his eyes tracking the wolves. One of them suddenly appeared in front of him, its jaw holding a mass of lightning ready to unleash at any moment.

'So fast,' Orion thought, surprised by their quick movements. He quickly teleported behind the lightning wolf and slashed with his sword, cutting it in two.

But there was no moment of rest as more golden flashes signaled the approach of more wolves. They attacked in rapid succession, their speed enhanced by the lightning coursing through them.

'Lightning is making them this fast!' Orion realized. He had a sudden moment of enlightenment but no time to ponder it as the wolves continued their relentless assault.

He moved swiftly, dodging and countering their attacks with precise strikes of his flaming sword. Each swing sent arcs of fire through the air, meeting the wolves' lightning-charged bodies with explosive force.

Using his teleportation ability strategically, he created distance whenever a wolf lunged at him, then closed in with a deadly blow before they could react. The combination of fire and ice, along with his agility, began to wear down the wolves.

However, just as it seemed he would easily win against these low-level wolves, Orion suddenly sensed a coordinated attack from all sides.