His first reaction was to panic, realising that any chance he might have thought of to get himself out of this precarious situation was not lost.
And with the state his body was in, there was no way in hell he could tread water for long enough to wait for the water to rise the full 20 metres to the top.
'…Wait, my body?'
He moved his arms and legs in an effort to keep his head above the water, but he realised that there wasn't any pain or aching anymore!
His mind drew back to the moment before that strange voice echoed in his ear, when he saw something moving under the skin of his arm, as if… something had forced its way into his body.
He raised his right hand and inspected it closely. But immediately after, a faint light emanated outwards, with the back of his hand as the epicentre.
It was so bright that Ludo had to involuntarily raise his other hand to shield his eyes, slightly worried that it might have some negative effects on his sight.
"What is this thing?" He muttered to himself, still trying to get a grip on the situation.
The light receded, revealing his arm that had undergone some drastic changes. All the way from the tips of his fingers, to his shoulder, the surface of his skin was no longer the pale white that it used to be, instead being replaced by what looked like a glistening sheen of metal.
…Ludo was stunned.
This was the type of thing he'd seen in sci-fi movies, and yet here he was, living in such a situation himself! Not even in his dreams had something like this happened.
"How did this thing…" Deep down, Ludo already knew the answer.
The meteorite strike from the previous night.
That could be the only reason for all these strange things that had suddenly started happening to him in succession.
Perhaps some alien meteorite had come into contact with him, or some advanced technology from the future…
Whatever the reason, Ludo continued to stare at it in awe.
He suspected that this was the sole reason behind everything that had happened to him.
'But just what are you?' He thought.
As if to answer his own question, that same, robotic voice echoed throughout his head once more.
[Pairing completed — Galactic Terminal #912381230 has successfully integrated with the user.]
[Please customise the settings to your preferences.]
Like magic, those same words that had just been uttered in his mind were holographically projected, hovering just above his palm.
'…'
Ludo was speechless.
Now, he had a clearer idea of just what this thing was, some sort of 'Galactic Terminal'? That still only opened up a whole new avenue of questions for him.
But it also caused his heartbeat to speed up, with excitement flooding throughout his body.
"It really was some sort of alien technology!" He blurted aloud.
He wished that he could immediately start diving into all of its features and explore everything it had to offer, but his current situation took precedence over it for the time being.
Though, with how it had somehow brought his body back to full strength, he had much higher confidence in doing so than before.
"I can't just sit here and wait for the water level to reach the top, as not only would that deplete all my energy that I'd just recovered, but it doesn't look like it'll rain enough for that to happen."
He looked up at the sky, seeing that the volume of rain had significantly reduced compared to when he first woke up, and the clouds in the sky had become much more sparse.
In actuality, the uncertainty of the water even reaching the top contributed the most to his decision to take action rather than wait, since being stuck in a lake that was level with the surface wasn't as much of a problem as being stuck in one 10 or so metres deep on all sides…
And unfortunately, that was just the situation he was in.
"However, maybe now I could climb out?"
Ludo seriously thought about this, considering it was basically his only other option. But now that his body had completely recovered and even seemed to be even healthier than it was previously, the chances seemed much higher.
And he was actually in a better situation to do so than before.
By now, he was already having to tread water to keep his head afloat, and the newly created pond's water level had already reached 10 metres high.
This at least saved him from having to climb the first 10 metres of the crater wall…
"But maybe… just maybe, I might be able to climb out!"
This wasn't just wishful thinking; Ludo felt better than he ever had before, even while he had to expend a little bit of energy to keep himself afloat.
He was 90% sure that the integration of the Galactic Terminal with him had brought more than just a few trinkets from space but also slightly enhanced his body in the process.
Without delaying any further, he swam his way to the wall of the crater on one side and dug his hand into the wet, muddy wall with full force!
His fingers sank into the muddy wall like a hot knife through butter until he hit a densely packed layer of dirt, where the might of the rain pattering down no longer had an effect on it.
At first, he half expected the wall to crumble under his weight, or to just find that his hand passed through a bit of mud, only to send him sliding back into the water below.
He pulled his body up, and yet he was just as firm.
The earth didn't give way at all, his arm tensed in reaction, and he pulled upwards again, harder this time.
"…huh?"
He glanced down at his own arms, slightly bewildered.
"I couldn't do this so easily before…" he muttered under his breath.
Before now, the idea of climbing a wet, twenty metre wall with no rope or footholds would've been laughable.
Ludo wasn't exactly a lazy person, but he also wasn't an athlete. His exercise routine ended at walking up the stairs when the elevator broke down.
And yet now, despite the difficulty it originally proposed, he felt as if gravity had less of a hold on him than it did before.
His entire body could be held up by just a single arm now, and he could even climb without using his legs — on such a slippery, wet surface at that!