Heat, drought, the desert everywhere exuding the smell of death.
From a sizable patch of mud, it could be seen that this was originally a small lake, but under the eerie sunlight, it had been reduced to just a puddle.
At this moment, the remaining puddle was flickering with a faint light, almost imperceptible under the sun.
Suddenly, the water in the puddle trembled violently, as if something was about to emerge, but in the end, it only released a string of bubbles.
"What's this? I've transmigrated?"
Thorne felt a wave of dizziness. He wanted to take a closer look at this world, but all he saw was a cloudless sky stretching for miles and a blinding sun.
"I've actually turned into a lake? No—a puddle!"
Thorne found it hard to accept. Transmigration wasn't surprising to him, a avid reader of web novels, but transmigrating into a puddle was a bit much.
Not to mention transmigrating as a divine heir or demon king—even if he became an ordinary person or a talentless waste, he could still follow the mortal path. But what was he supposed to do transmigrating into a lake dried up to just a puddle?
A hell-level start!
Thorne controlled his "body" to move a little, sensing the surroundings. This completely different perspective was hard for him to adapt to.
Around him was over two hundred acres of mud, but now there was only this one puddle. If Thorne had transmigrated any later, he might have vanished entirely.
Beyond that was an endless desert, with a few buffalo-like animals scattered in the distance.
"Right, where's the standard transmigrator cheat?"
Thorne felt a surge of excitement. The deed was done; now he could only hope his cheat was powerful enough.
"System bro, System bro, are you there?"
"System starting up…"
"System binding…"
After a wait, an information panel appeared in Thorne's perception.
Host: Thorne
Identity: Lake
Level: Level too low, on the verge of death
Skills: Spring Breeze Rain Lv1, Water Bind Lv1
Energy: 100
Note: Host is currently an ordinary lake and can evolve step-by-step through upgrades into a Spiritual Lake, Elemental Lake, Faith Lake, and more…
"I can evolve? Then if I keep evolving like this, won't I become invincible?"
As Thorne was still carefully studying the system, a red alert suddenly blared.
"Host death countdown: 12 hours."
"Damn, a death countdown right from the start."
Thorne wanted to cry but had no tears, hurriedly speeding up to familiarize himself with the system's functions.
The so-called Spring Breeze Rain was essentially a rainfall skill, able to summon rain within the lake's coverage area. This rain was spiritual rain containing aura, very beneficial to the growth of living things. Water Bind, as the name suggested, was about controlling water to entangle enemies.
Using skills consumed energy. With 100 energy points, Thorne could only cast two skills, and how to gain more energy required further exploration—but clearly, he didn't have that much time.
A lake dies simply because its water source dries up. As long as he could keep himself from drying out, he shouldn't die.
"Use the skill Spring Breeze Rain!"
Seeing only 50 energy points left on the panel, Thorne felt a breeze blow past, easing a bit of the heat.
The sky still had not a single cloud.
"Is this system fake or what?" Thorne worried.
Without warning, a few raindrops hit the puddle's surface, and a light drizzle began, growing heavier.
Thorne felt a refreshing sensation, like an itch being scratched just right.
The rain lasted an hour. Thorne carefully controlled the rainwater falling into the lake, gathering it all in one spot. When the rain stopped, the puddle's area had expanded more than threefold. Now it looked like a water area of seven or eight square meters, barely qualifying as a pond.
Thorne quickly checked the system panel again. The red warning had disappeared.
Host: Thorne
Identity: Lake
Level: Level 1
Skills: Spring Breeze Rain Lv1, Water Bind Lv1
Energy: 50
Thorne's heart, which had just arrived and hadn't yet calmed down before tensing up again, could finally relax a bit.
"Huh? What's going on?"
Feeling vibrations from afar, in Thorne's perception, a few buffalo that were originally distant suddenly charged toward him.
"Of course, this place has been dry for so long. With sudden rainwater, these buffalo must be coming here to drink."
Thorne grew nervous. Buffalo were herd animals. If these few drew a whole group, this water might not survive their trampling.
"I wonder if Water Bind can handle them." Thorne had to give them a show of force, to deter the other buffalo and keep his hard-earned water from being drunk dry.
As the first buffalo crossed the mud to reach Thorne, its massive mouth—much larger than a typical cow's—stretched toward him.
Suddenly, a rope of water shot out, tightly wrapping around the buffalo's neck and pulling it into the water.
The buffalo, caught off guard, struggled fiercely, but the binding around its neck grew tighter, the force stronger. Its futile thrashing only sank its body deeper into the mud.
Finally, the buffalo's entire head was dragged underwater. Its struggles weakened, and the surface returned to calm.
The other late-arriving buffalo had long been scared off by this sudden turn, fleeing far away and staring back in terror.
"Ding, host has slaughtered a low-tier beast, gaining 100 energy points."
"Ding, congratulations to host for achieving first kill, rewarded with 100 energy points."
It was a windfall. After deducting the 50 energy used for Water Bind, Thorne now had 200 energy points.
"So slaughtering creatures is one way to gain energy points."
Looking at the few still-shaken buffalo in the distance, Thorne fell into thought.
In this endless desert, with only this one water source, Thorne didn't believe these buffalo could resist their thirst and the allure of spiritual water. They were walking energy points.
The buffalo drowned by Thorne was gradually enveloped by the mud, vanishing eerily in the end.
The desert at night grew even more terrifying, with low roars of beasts echoing from afar and the panicked cries of animals being bitten to death.
It seemed this desert hid quite a few creatures.
The next morning, Thorne opened the system panel again. The information had changed, with energy rising to 500 points.
It turned out that last night, those few buffalo couldn't resist after all, coming to drink together and ultimately being killed by Thorne.
Each buffalo kill cost 50 energy but yielded 100, netting a profit of 50 points.
Through repeated confirmation, Thorne also discovered a hidden system ability: the memories of creatures he killed and devoured would be absorbed by him.
From those buffalo yesterday, he gained a deeper understanding of this world.
This was definitely not his original world—it seemed more like a primal, barbaric era. In the buffalo's memories, he saw a lion with a flaming mane, a horse with wings, and humans wielding magic.
This filled Thorne with excitement. In such a wondrous world, there had to be a way to regain a human form! He didn't want to stay a lake forever.
"If I could drag that flame lion in and devour it, I should get a lot of energy, right?"
Thorne had a bold idea. In the buffalo's memories, they were prey to that lion, so the flame lion must be nearby too.