I Can Copy Curses

[Choose a weapon.]

Orion looked at the notification and at the line of weapon options in front of him.

[Sword, Axe, Spear, War Hammer, Gauntlets...]

The list stretched on endlessly, but Orion didn't need to browse through all the options. He had only ever used a sword, and he would choose a sword again.

As soon as he selected the sword, another notification appeared.

[Generating a random sword... Complete.]

[Slayer of Misfortune: A sword bestowed to those who have lived in misfortune all their lives without breaking down. They possessed the courage to always stand up in every situation they were thrown into, facing problems head-on.]

[Effect: A sword that does not break, like the will of the one who wields it.]

Orion read the description of the sword and wasn't sure how to feel about it. He had indeed been plagued by misfortune, but it felt as though even the AI of this VR world was mocking him.

The sword itself looked very plain. It was a long, thin blade, pitch-black in color.

'I guess if the generation of the sword is really random, then there's no doubt I got unlucky again.'

He sighed as he checked the effects of the sword, feeling disappointed once more.

'Well, it's better than nothing, I guess. The fact that it can't break is probably the best effect I could hope for right now.'

Orion imagined many situations where he could use this sword. If a sword could never break, its versatility would increase tremendously in battle.

'What now?' he wondered, looking around, when he noticed everyone else examining the weapons they were holding in their hands.

[Participants are instructed to spar with each other to gain overall experience with Dreamshore in the VR world. This will be your only chance before the final assessment begins tomorrow.]

Another notification appeared before everyone in the virtual city.

'It's good that we can test how fluidly we can use our strength here,' Orion thought as someone approached him.

Turning around, he saw it was Erza and Tracy.

"Big Brother, spar with me first, then with Erza, and after that, I'll spar with Erza," Tracy said excitedly as soon as she reached him.

Orion nodded. He had noticed that she'd been more excited than usual lately, and he wasn't naive to the reason.

Her brother had returned to normal, and she had been freed from the clutches of the Black Reaper Guild. It was no wonder she was happy, now that her life had returned to normal.

Orion silently clenched his fists as he saw the happiness on her face. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he had no choice. He had no choice but to impersonate Ray Wiser.

"Big Brother?"

Tracy's light call brought him back to reality.

"Ah, yes, let's do this," Orion said, feeling somewhat guilty as he prepared to fight her.

Tracy nodded, holding her sword in one hand. Orion noticed her sword was quite different from normal ones. It appeared thin and light, like a rapier, but wasn't exactly a rapier.

'I guess it's a randomly generated sword,' he thought as he waited for her to attack.

"Big Brother, be ready."

Tracy warned Orion as she vanished from her position and reappeared in front of him.

'There it is. Her talent!'

Orion held his breath as he watched closely.

Tracy simply stabbed her sword once into the air.

Orion's eyes widened as he saw ten beams of light shoot toward him.

He activated the Curse of Stormcaller and swung his sword.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of metal clashing against metal reverberated through the area as Orion deflected each beam of light with ease.

"Big Brother, you're so strong and fast!" Tracy exclaimed. "Most people wouldn't be able to react to those attacks, but you deflected them all so easily."

"Did you forget? I was born with wind ability talent, and with talent comes insane speed," Orion said with a smile.

Tracy nodded, her expression becoming more serious. "It seems your talent was upgraded to a very high level by that person who saved you in the hospital."

Orion nodded, looking away. "You're right. I owe him a lot."

"So, how did you both feel using your talents?" Erza asked at that moment.

Tracy tilted her head in thought. "I didn't feel anything different. It felt just like using my talent in the real world. Nothing seemed to change, but..."

Orion nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I felt like I was in the real world for a moment." He was surprised, too. If he hadn't known they were inside VR pods, he would've believed it was reality.

The only difference between the real world and Dreamshore was the absence of the original system.

"Erza, you and Tracy spar a bit. I have something else to do," Orion said, disappearing with the wind.

Tracy pouted. "He just said he'd spar with both of us, and now he ran off."

"Don't worry too much about him," Erza said calmly. "Let's spar. I want to see how it feels to fight in this VR world compared to the one I use at home."

Tracy nodded as she prepared to attack Erza.

***

Orion moved through the crowd of young men like the wind as he searched for someone.

'There he is!'

He spotted a figure sitting alone on the ground in the distance, head down. It was Mark Prince.

Victor was nowhere to be seen, so Orion wasted no time and appeared in front of Mark.

"What do you want?" Mark asked, his eyes reddening with rage as he glared at Orion.

"Nothing," Orion shrugged. "I just wanted to spar with someone."

"Go find someone else." Mark dismissively pointed at the others. "I'm not in the mood."

Orion smiled and waved his sword, sending a wind blade toward Mark.

Purple lightning flashed as Mark dodged the attack.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" Mark shouted his sound frustrated as he looked at Orion.

"I heard you, but I don't care," Orion shrugged again, waving his sword and sending another wind blade at Mark.

Mark drew his sword and slashed the wind blade in half.

"Leave me alone!" Mark yelled, swinging his sword vertically, sending an arc of concentrated lightning toward Orion.

Orion smiled and used the durability of his sword to deflect the lightning arc, sending it to his right, where it collided with a building, erupting in flames.

'This sword might not be so bad after all,' he thought, examining the weapon more closely.

"Is that it?" Orion sneered. "Is that the full strength of someone who possesses one of the strongest talents?"

A flash of purple lightning appeared in front of him as Mark swung his sword in fury. "What do you want from me?" he shouted, filled with rage.

---

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....