After a brief moment of dizziness, Arthas reopened his eyes to find himself in an unfamiliar area.
Before him lay a vast plain, a green grassland where the wind swept low, revealing cattle and sheep, and in the distance, a winding, clear river.
Several large depressions drew in branches of the passing river, forming large lakes, where occasionally plump fish could be seen leaping from the water.
The river stretched into the distance, eventually flowing into the Forbidden Sea at a point unseen.
Sometimes, when looking at the world map, he would wonder why the two continents, from the Eastern Kingdoms to Kalimdor, could only be traversed through The Great Sea in the middle of the Maelstrom.
To the right of the Eastern Kingdoms and the left of the Kalimdor continent, there was a place called the Forbidden Sea. There seemed to be no news about this sea area, which was quite strange.
Shaking his head, he no longer dwelled on these peculiar matters.
Though many thoughts raced through his mind, it was, in reality, only a matter of one or two seconds.
He felt a strange sensation because he was high in the sky and remained suspended there.
This was quite abnormal, for while it was true that he was powerful, even when facing Archimonde, the Burning Legion's second-in-command and top general, he still possessed the strength to fight him.
He must not be allowed to get close; once he was in close combat, the infinite stun of Bash, coupled with the Critical Strike of every sword blow, was enough to control any powerful enemy to death.
He glanced at himself and was astonished to discover that, at some point, he had transformed into a massive dragon.
His wings flapped, his skin was red, and his hands had become claws, resembling a dragon's forelimbs.
This change in form greatly surprised him, and he hurriedly flew down to the lake below. His reflection in the clear water revealed his new appearance.
He was a dragon with scales and skin entirely red, a pair of horns on his head, and a row of whiskers on his chin. A slight snarl revealed his sharp dragon teeth.
"How is this possible? How did I turn into a dragon? And a mature one at that? This seems wrong, doesn't it? Where did he come from?"
Then he looked at his character panel.
Name: Arthas (Asaz)
Identity: Crown prince of Lordaeron (currently a member of the red dragonflight)
Asaz?
Perhaps this was the identity of his red dragon form.
He checked his inventory; its contents were still there, but they were sealed and unusable.
Undeterred, he continued to try to manipulate the items in his inventory, but unfortunately, there was no response. Everything had turned gray, even Frostmourne, indicating an unusable state.
The double attribute effect and other effects provided by Frostmourne had also vanished, sealed away, and he had reverted to his original, weaker form.
He could sense the situation in the City of Hope from afar, and could even use the territory's treasury gold to purchase attribute books from the Mysterious Treasure Chamber to enhance himself.
Although it refreshed once every day, each book only added two attribute points.
It didn't seem like much, but given enough time, through accumulation, he could easily break through the thousands and then tens of thousands.
As long as there was a steady supply of gold, his attribute growth would not cease. The higher his base attributes, the stronger the abilities granted by artifacts would be.
This was at least good news; although he couldn't buy other items from the Mysterious Treasure Chamber, there was at least something to look forward to.
Without the communication stone in his inventory, Arthas had no way to contact anyone else.
With one claw, he scooped up a pile of lively largemouth bass.
Attempting to put them into his inventory, the lively largemouth bass instantly turned into dead fish, lying still in his inventory.
The inventory could store items, but not living ones; live fish could only become dead fish.
This was not bad. Arthas began to practice spreading his wings and diving, crashing into the lake like a cannonball, sending up a large splash.
After a long period of submersion, he burst out again, his inventory now containing over a thousand largemouth bass.
That wasn't all; some edible algae within it had been completely cleared, and even minerals and herbs were taken without exception.
As a foodie, he naturally loved to hoard food; people relied on food to survive.
Before reaching a state where he could survive without eating, food was still necessary, and indeed, essential.
In the distance, several wild herds of cattle appeared, and on the distant mountains, many wild goats could be seen leaping on steep cliffs.
Good stuff!
Flapping his wings, his massive body swept by, and with just his claws in close combat, he could snap a wild bull's neck.
The suddenly appearing dragon terrified the wild cattle herd, sending them scattering, but how could four legs on the ground outrun a dragon flying in the sky?
The wild cattle herd was completely cleared out, transformed into food reserves lying in his inventory.
The wild addax herds were also scared and scattered, but they too were quickly dealt with and turned into food reserves.
For a time, the plain was in an uproar: ostrich eggs, silverleaf, plain arugula, and so on, anything edible was completely swept clean by a certain dragon.
Anything flying in the sky, running on the ground, or swimming in the water, as far as his eyes could see, everything, no matter what it was, was turned into food reserves.
With a thought, he tried to contact the City of Hope's slaughterhouse.
This slaughterhouse was not the undead's tier-2 building, which was used to piece together corpses to create ugly, sickening abominations, the flesh golem building.
This slaughterhouse, as its name suggested, was a building used for processing animals. Dissection was an exceptionally profound discipline.
Cutting, skinning, leatherworking, bleeding, and sinew removal were all separate skill disciplines.
Good knife skills could cut animals with as little damage as possible, or even minimal damage, preventing the loss of energy-rich components.
Skinning, as the name implies, is cutting off the hide. Too much meat attached would lead to decay, while too little would damage its intrinsic properties.
For example, a complete and undamaged Wind Lizard hide could be enchanted to create windproof and warm clothing; a thin shirt could maintain normal body temperature in temperatures as low as minus ten degrees Celsius.
Leatherworking involved further processing, transforming raw hides into corresponding advanced materials.
Whether used as magical materials for writing scrolls or as artisan materials for crafting equipment, shields, clothing, etc., they were excellent choices.
Bleeding was literal; the blood of magical beasts could not only be made into sanguine food but also served as magical material, frequently used in the enchanting industry.
As for sinew removal, it was about carefully extracting intact sinews, which had a wide range of uses, commonly found in bowstrings.
With a thought, the corpses indeed disappeared.
After a brief sweep, the processed corpses returned to his inventory, transforming from one slot into five: meat chunks, bones, blood, sinews, and hides.
It seemed not bad; at least he didn't have to worry about going hungry anymore.
While he was secretly pleased, a group of dark figures suddenly appeared in the distance, flying shadows that looked like dragons?