The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan laughed like a drain for the next few seconds, immersed in the little nugget of joy that had fallen his way.

It had been so long since he last gave any serious thought to his constitution's abilities that he almost forgot it existed.

But now he could once again receive substantial powerups through this extraction ability.

Hao Xuan rubbed his hands in excitement, "Hoho, let's see now, which ability would be the best for me!"

"Going by the definitions alone and my current needs, Plunderer would, of course, be the at the top. I could steal some luck from those rich bastards in the city and help myself."

"Or if I could get 'Still Heart', it could help me with the bombing and give me an edge when I have to go down into the prison. Even Nox Soporatus doesn't seem to be that bad although its more of support type ability."

Hao Xuan quickly came up with a few ideas about each ability and how it could help him. Looking at the trembling spider in front of him, he couldn't help but see it in a much better light all of a sudden.

"You good boy you, you just made my whole week! Hahaha," he shouted excitedly, scaring the spider even more and sending it back into its 'rock' form.

The spider's previously nightmarish appearance only looked cute in front of Hao Xuan now.

Without wasting any more time he quickly placed his right hand where the spider's head would be and closed his eyes.

"This shouldn't hurt you at all I think," he mumbled in a low voice, trying to keep his thumping heart in check.

All he had to do was speak the word 'Extract' or even think it and it would do the job. But for some reason when it came the time to do so, he couldn't bring himself to say it.

It was not because he wasn't able to, but after calming down a little a few things popped into his mind.

'This is too rare an opportunity to just hope that it will go my way. What if I get that stupid death grip thing? Or the Threads one that isn't even working properly. I need to up my chance as much as possible,' Hao Xuan concluded and instead knocked on the rock-like surface of the spider's body.

"Hey come out for a second, I know you can understand me."

The rock trembled slightly before opening up. The four bony fangs that looked the digits of a finger cautiously peeked out from under the exterior.

Hao Xuan stared at it for a second or two while gathering his thoughts.

"If I'm not wrong, you should have stolen a fair bit of luck from others over the years right? Judging by how you met me instead of the hunters or the local resistance fighters, it wouldn't be farfetched to say that your luck is extremely good in that sense since I can not only help you get stronger but keep you safe as well."

"You don't have any offensive abilities so I won't ask you to fight for me. But what happens next will decide your fate."

He paused and looked at the spider's fangs. They had stopped moving about as much which meant it was probably paying attention.

Seeing that, Hao Xuan nodded inwardly and continued.

"I will copy one ability of yours. I can't control which ability otherwise it wouldn't be a problem, it's completely random. But there is something you have to know too."

"If I get the Plunderer ability, you will have nothing to worry about. You will basically have everything you need here, a safe place to live, food, and even some company. I will also help you get stronger when I have the chance."

"BUT!" he paused and squinted for dramatic effect, without even knowing whether or not the spider could see or even decipher human expressions, "But if its any other ability, I will have to take my chances and try to take that word of power from you as well. And as you may or may not know, you will not survive that process whether I succeed or not."

Its fangs jerked from the shock.

"I'm telling you this so you can use whatever luck you have saved up to increase my chance of getting Plunderer since it will directly affect you. I'm not sure of that's how it works, but there you have it."

Having explained the situation to the spider, Hao Xuan once again reached out his right arm. The idea behind his actions was very simple.

If he couldn't control which ability to take, by threatening the spider he could at least increase the chance of getting what he wanted.

Maybe because the spider knew what was about to happen but as soon as Hao Xuan touched its rocky exterior, its entire body shook several times. Hao Xuan could even feel the dread and fear through their soul connection.

Although he felt a little bad doing this, there was no other option at the moment.

Severing the spider already put a fair bit of strain on his already saturated soul and unless given what he wanted, there was no reason to keep it.

He closed his eyes as a numb white light covered his palm.

"Extract!"