CHAPTER 466: NEW ABILITY?

For a moment, Lane stared at the spider, which was still grinding his finger, as if he couldn’t believe what was happening. He had never had this feeling before with a monster... Sure, the monsters generally didn’t get to taste his DNA these days, so that could be an explanation, but still. It was... surprising, to say the least.

"Uh... Wait a moment," he muttered, stopping Ava, who was about to remove the spider from him.

"What?" Ava lifted her brows in response. "Do you not want your finger anymore?"

"That’s not it." With his eyes still on the spider, Lane licked his lips greedily, thinking about what he could get from it... Or from other monsters from now on. "Do you mind if I use my Plunder ability on it?"

"...What?" Ava asked again, even more dumbfounded. "You... can use it on a monster?"

"I think."

Ava paused for a minute, blinking, as she rapidly analyzed the situation. Her eyes swept over all the hatchlings, before focusing on the one sucking on Lane’s finger again...

"Alright, but not this one," she eventually said, as she gently squeezed the spider, prompting it to release Lane’s finger from its mouth. Paying no mind to the blood that was dripping into the terrarium, agitating all the spiders, she skillfully fished one from the clutter - she was wearing special gloves, so even if any spider wanted to bite her, they couldn’t - and stuck it on Lane’s finger. "This one’s fine."

"...And what’s the difference?"

"We have fewer males than females. So, if you want to do this, Plunder a female."

It was unknown how Lane’s ability could affect the monster. Perhaps it would greatly disturb their Mana flow, to the point that they wouldn’t be able to properly function anymore! All the spiders were her precious experimental subjects, thus, even though she wanted to see what would happen, she should at least pick a subject that was the most acceptable sacrifice!

In fact...

"Actually, wait a sec..." She reached out, wanting to remove the spider from Lane’s finger again, but she was too late. The spider’s long legs shuddered, as Lane’s wavelengths swept through it.

"What?" Lane gave her a questioning glance, but Ava just shook her head. If she was too late, then she was too late. Nothing could be done about the spider now, so she just moved on to something more important,

"So? Did it work?"

"Uh... Can you get it off first?" Lane gestured at the spider with his head. The speed at which the spider was consuming his finger was incredibly slow, so he was in no danger of losing the finger any time soon, but that didn’t mean he wanted this to go on! The feeling was weird, and honestly, quite awful...

He almost felt bad for Ethan for having been through it.

Almost.

"Ah, right." Ava squeezed the spider, and placed it back in the terrarium. It seemed much more dispirited now... Which was a shame, really. Luckily, many of the eggs that Lane had brought had been able to hatch, so it wasn’t an unacceptable loss. After giving the monster one last sad glance, Ava turned back to Lane. "So?"

There was no need for her to rush him, though. Despite his finger bleeding, with the skin peeled (or, well, ground) off of it, he was already trying to figure out his new ability.

It was easier said than done, though. Although he could sense that he had some new power, nothing happened as he moved his fingers... He was trying to use it in a similar way he had used other abilities that produced substances, or how Clara always used her golden thread ability... Since what he had from the spiders also seemed like the threads, he thought it would be more or less the same, but...

"Try spitting it out," Ava suggested.

"...Spitting it out?"

"Yeah. Monsters have a different anatomy from humans, so it is only logical that their abilities might not work the same. The spiders have spinnerets, that is special organs to produce silk, but since it’s unlikely that you suddenly grew a new organ... If you succeeded in Plundering the ability, the silk is most likely to be produced in your abdomen. You might be able to spit it. And if not that, then shit it."

"Uh..." Lane stared at his friend hesitantly. All of a sudden, he wasn’t so certain whether he wanted to go around stealing monsters’ abilities... It sounded like more trouble than it was worth.

Then again, having stolen the abilities didn’t mean that he had to use them. He had plenty of abilities that he wasn’t really using these days. He should at least give it a shot, and if he didn’t like it, then...

"Alright." Taking a deep breath, Lane closed his eyes and tried to focus on the feeling within him. Using abilities was intuitive, so he should have been able to figure it out. He had been doing it wrong earlier, misled by his knowledge and experience, but now that he focused on trying to produce the thread in whatever way felt the most natural...

"Blergh." Thick threads of pale blue silk shot out of Lane’s mouth. He swiftly captured them with his fingers before they could hit anything, and, almost instinctively, started twisting them, as if trying to spin a web.

"Ooooh! It worked!" Ava exclaimed with excitement, watching the scene from the side.

Indeed, it had. Lane stared at the threads in his hand with mixed feelings. The webbing no longer tingled or stuck to his skin, since his body was now adjusted to this ability, and it didn’t taste bad or anything... But the sensation still felt weird. He didn’t see himself doing this often, not unless it was necessary.

Snip!

Lane blinked, snapped out of his thoughts, and turned his eyes to Ava. "...What are you doing?"

"Taking samples, duh!" Ava rolled her eyes at the obvious question, as she cut off another piece of Lane’s threads with special gloves, placing it in a special container. "I want to compare your silk with the spiders!"

Now it was Lane’s turn to roll his eyes. Of course that would be the first thing that Ava thought about...

Not that he complained. While he personally didn’t have any interest in science, he still valued it. As his best friend’s hobby, as well as for the practical application of the research results. So, he waited patiently for Ava to finish taking her samples, before swallowing back the unused silk.

Now that he thought about it, he also had another ability that he could use it together with it...

Before he could try to test it, though, he was interrupted by Ava’s question,

"Since we’re at it... Do you have more time now?"