I Can Copy Curses

Sometime later, the trio arrived in front of a towering skyscraper. It was the tallest building Orion had ever seen, and from where he stood, he couldn't even see its top. The sheer size of it was so enormous that he doubted such skyscrapers existed on Earth.

"Let's go inside," Emily said, taking the lead and entering through the large front doors, where many people were coming and going.

Since Emily had already booked the rooms in advance, they didn't have to deal with any booking issues and quickly made their way to their floor.

The entire floor had around thirty rooms, all currently reserved for them.

"I'll take the closest one," Orion said, pointing at the door in front of him. "See you guys at dinner."

With that, he opened the door and went inside.

Emily and Elyn exchanged a glance and shrugged before choosing rooms for themselves and entering inside.

***

Inside his room, Orion sat on a chair, his hands positioned on the table in such a way that his lower chin rested on the back of his palm.

'This dungeon will be my chance to copy lots of good curses,' he thought.

There were two reasons he wanted to enter the dungeon.

First, dungeons attracted many strong individuals aiming to clear them. He planned to use that opportunity to copy as many curses as possible, even if he had to act a bit shamelessly.

For some reason, there was a restlessness in his heart that drove him to become stronger as quickly as possible. He didn't know where this sudden feeling came from, but it had been there since he left the Emperor Heaven Palace. It made him wonder if the Silverflame Family or the Grimwolf Family would abandon all pretense and come to kill him.

His urgency to grow stronger stemmed from this fear. He felt that if he didn't seize every opportunity to become more powerful, he might regret it in the future.

Also, ever since he had seen the vision of himself with his Fate Core, where he died at the hands of what appeared to be another version of himself, he started to believe in premonitions—or bad omens, as some might call them.

The second reason was as simple as leveling up. In dungeons, there would be no shortage of monsters, and Orion wouldn't have to search for each one individually, which could help him reach the peak stage of the iron rank as soon as possible.

'It's time to train then,' he thought. He understood where his weakness lay and he wanted to improve upon that.

In the gray world, he had pushed past his limits and had used four curses in Curse Transformation mode. It made him wonder if that was his current limit.

However, he vividly remembered how uncomfortable those negative emotions had been, flooding his mind. The overwhelming negativity had made it difficult to think clearly, which motivated him to prepare for such situations in the future.

His approach was straightforward: he would use four curses in Curse Transformation mode and practice meditation to maintain control over the negative emotions. Since he wasn't in battle at the moment, he could fully concentrate on mastering his emotions, gradually becoming accustomed to them.

By training in this way, Orion aimed to ensure that when he used four curses in Curse Transformation mode during a battle, he wouldn't be overwhelmed by negative emotions.

That was his plan, though he wasn't certain if it would succeed.

"Here we go," Orion muttered to himself, steeling his resolve.

With a deep breath, he closed his eyes and activated four of his curses in Curse Transformation mode.

Instantly, a torrent of negative emotions surged into his mind, overwhelming him with an intense agony that forced him to clench his teeth in pain. The flood of negativity invaded his thoughts, twisting them into a maze of bleak and pessimistic reflections.

As the negative emotions took hold, Orion felt his mental fortitude falter, his mind becoming the weakest link in his otherwise strong physique. Vulnerable to these overwhelming emotions, he found himself unable to shake off the pessimistic thoughts that flooded his consciousness, clouding his judgment and perception of everything around him.

To compound his struggle, the pain that accompanied these emotions was relentless and excruciating. It added to the difficulty of maintaining control over his thoughts, making it a daunting task to focus amidst the onslaught of emotional and physical distress.

'I have to hold on.'

Orion gritted his teeth, determination etched on his face. Despite the overwhelming pain and mental strain, he refused to give up.

With no immediate danger pressing him, he focused solely on enduring.

Like that time crawled by.

After one hour, sweat soaked his body and his breathing grew heavy.

Two hours later, his face flushed red, struggling to maintain control over his emotions.

Three hours in, his expression hardened into a fierce mask, teetering on the edge of losing control.

Finally, after a grueling five hours, Orion's mind reached its breaking point. Exhausted beyond measure, he succumbed to unconsciousness, his body and mind pushed to their limits by the intense ordeal.

***

It felt like an eternity when Orion woke up the next day.

For some reason, he still felt very tired, as if all the energy in his body had been sucked dry.

But he knew that wasn't the case since he could feel near infinite energy inside of him.

Orion sat up slowly, his body feeling heavy and fatigued despite the energy coursing through him.

As he reflected on the previous night's ordeal, he realized how taxing it had been on his mind.

"Seems like my mind took quite a beating," he muttered to himself, a slight frown creasing his brow. "Barely held on for five hours... in battle, I wouldn't have the luxury of that kind of peace. Maybe just a few minutes if I pushed myself to the limit."

He understood that these five hours seemed long but in battle he wouldn't have the peace of mind he had last night and would probably last around a few minutes if he gave it his all.