I Can Copy Curses

"We are early, not you," Victor corrected Orion.

Orion smiled and responded, "Same, same."

"It's not the same," Victor insisted.

"Alright, let's go. Lead us, Amy," Erza said at that moment.

Amy nodded. "Follow me."

She led them up the stairs to the 7th floor of the building. Because of their large numbers, they couldn't use the elevator, which would have been everyone's preferred choice.

As they climbed the stairs, Amy began explaining. "The final assessment will take place in the Vision Hall. So, you need to pay attention today."

"Wait, wait. What do you mean the final assessment will take place in the Vision Hall?" Orion asked, confused.

Only the geniuses from Planet Nio were stationed in this building, and other geniuses from different planets and regions were assigned elsewhere, so he couldn't understand how the final assessment would be held in the Vision Hall where only about fifty geniuses from Planet Nio were present. What about the others? Were they participating in different assessments?

Amy explained, "The Vision Hall is filled with many virtual reality pods. You simply use one to connect to Dreamshore, where all the geniuses from different regions and planets will be. Every participant in the final assessment will use these pods to access Dreamshore, where the assessment will take place."

She added, "In short, the assessment will take place in a virtual reality world, and all the participants will connect to this world using the pods in the Vision Hall."

Orion's eyes lit up with excitement. He knew about VR full-dive technology from Earth, but because it required advanced technology that wasn't available there, the dreams of many on Earth to fully dive into VR remained just dreams. However, in the Human Federation Realm, such technologies were easily accessible. The humans of the Federation were far more scientifically advanced than those on Earth.

'Damn, I should have bought one while I was in Masturi City.'

Orion regretted this oversight. He had completely forgotten about the VR technology amidst the chaos of his situation. Otherwise, he would have purchased a VR pod—after all, he was quite wealthy in this world.

"Have you guys ever been to Dreamshore or used these VR pods?" Orion asked Victor and Erza.

"I've used VR pods," Erza nodded.

"Me too," Victor added.

Orion gave them a silent thumbs-up, crying inwardly.

"Big Brother, Mother wanted to buy us one, but you rejected it, saying they were tracking our talents and curses with the VR pods," Tracy said, giggling.

"I did?" Orion made a face, pretending he couldn't remember. He had told her during their journey that he had some memory issues due to mental trauma he had experienced over the years, and Tracy believed him completely.

Though Orion felt a little bad and guilty about this lie, he did what he had to in order to achieve his goals.

"Big Brother, don't push yourself," Tracy said, concerned.

Orion nodded. "Don't worry. If I can't remember something, I won't push myself to. It would only cause more pain." He reassured her gently.

Tracy nodded and added, "By the way, you also said the VR pods were used by the Federation Council to spy on everyone's talents and curses so that if anyone were to go rogue or betray the Federation, they could use the data from the pods to easily subdue them."

Orion pondered her words. He felt there was more truth to them than it seemed. He recalled that Mark had mentioned Ray was a wise kid who acted like an adult and was a genius in many aspects.

'What kind of person were you, Ray Wiser?' Orion wondered, growing more intrigued by the person he was impersonating.

'And why was my sister hanging out with you? What exactly happened that led to what Mark witnessed?'

There were so many mysteries surrounding Ray Wiser, and Orion couldn't wait to unravel them all. Unfortunately, given the situation, he could neither contact his sister nor gain any information about what had happened to Ray that led to the serious inquiries into his death.

He refused to believe his sister was responsible. There had to be another explanation for the scene Mark had witnessed.

'Elyn will be at Dollas Academy. I'll ask her to contact Emily when I get there,' Orion decided.

"Don't overthink it," Erza said. "I've seen people who couldn't remember parts of their lives, and even after many years, they still couldn't. So don't force yourself."

"Yes, Big Brother, don't force yourself," Tracy echoed, her voice filled with concern.

Orion smiled wryly. "I wasn't thinking about that. I was just considering how accurate my assumptions about the VR pods might be."

Erza frowned. "How old was he when he said that, Tracy?" she asked, curious.

Tracy thought for a moment. "I'm not sure, but Mother wanted to buy the VR pod when I was eight, so Big Brother would have been ten years old."

"What? Ten years old? Are you kidding me?" Victor was surprised. He couldn't believe Ray had thought of such things when he was just a ten-year-old kid.

Even Erza looked visibly shocked.

Orion held his head high and ran a hand through his hair. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm the smartest human in the world," he said, feigning loneliness.

"Big Brother, you're not the smartest," Tracy said, giggling.

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side!" Orion protested, feeling wronged.

"The smartest man, my ass. You probably overheard some grown-ups talking about it and just repeated what they said," Victor teased, smiling as if he'd figured it out.

Erza shook her head. "Anyway, stop it, you three. It looks like we've arrived."

Orion, Victor, and Tracy stopped in their tracks as they turned to face what could only be described as the ultimate security door.

The door was unlike any they had seen before, a massive metallic structure embedded with multiple layers of security which had many locks, including eye scanners and fingerprint readers.

At least, that's what Orion could discern from the surface. Who knew what other kinds of locks they had with this world's technology?

He also noticed that the geniuses from other cities had already gathered here, waiting for them.

A middle-aged man Orion hadn't seen before stood in the hall. He wore a white coat and white pants, typical attire for researchers back on Earth.

"Sir Edwill, everyone is here," Amy said, bowing to him as they arrived.

"Good." Sir Edwill nodded and stood before the metallic door, which automatically opened without him having to scan it with his halowatch or do anything else.

This made Orion wonder if it was due to AI. If the advancement in VR technology was high enough to build full-dive VR pods, then creating a fully functional AI to process everything would be an easy task.

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Also, I was hoping you could leave some comments or reviews to let me know your thoughts!

Some gifts would be appreciated as well, but up to you....