You're not sure, but you think it's important.

Stepped forward, the sand in your knees giving an uncomfortable unsteady feeling to your walking. You approached the far wall, the only one that gave any feeling of this being a structure and not just a random cave. This wall was the thing that made you certain you were not just a random skeleton. That is because this wall, was built.

It was flat from the entrance to the far side, which was more a pile of sand than an actual wall. Regardless, it was more than just flat, as it also had a mural on it. You had never been able to figure out what it was, as it was incredibly worn, and mostly covered by sand. Not to mention you believed most of it was in rubble now, as it would make sense that there was more to this cave than one single wall.

What you could make out of the Mural, was some form of story. There were two depictions you could remember, being the ones you had managed to fully uncover before your progress was reset by a sandstorm or an update. One was of a group of black Lizardfolk, with other colors of Lizardfolk bowing to them. The second mural, was of the two leaders of the black Lizardfolk standing on either side of a baby black Lizardfolk. You could piece together that the subject of the story to come was most likely the baby, or one of the parents. As much as you eternally wanted to know more (this being one of your few sources of consistent entertainment that wasn't questioning the existence of water), you simply had never been able to get more uncovered.

You scrounged around the floor, recalling something you had found in one of your most recent lives. It had been something you found that let you clear off the mural much faster, though that line had been ended by a sandstorm and then this update. Now that an update had just occurred, it usually took a week before any severe weather started, and you highly doubted an update would come in the near future.

You soon found it, picking up a small dead bush. It was a good size to hold in your hand, and roughly the shape of a bouquet of flowers. You gave a confident nod to the dead bush, satisfied with your returning memory. Previously, you had found this brush, and after using it to clean out your joints, you realized it made a better duster to clean the mural than your hands. Of course, at this moment you again prioritized cleaning your joints first, as that ungodly grating sensation was something you did not want to deal with as you cleaned the mural again.

Once done with your selfcare, you returned your attention to the mural. You walked up to it, very thankful you had cleaned your joints as your moved much smoother now. As you reached it, you brought up the bush and began brushing away the sand. Or at least... you tried to. No matter how many times you went over it, the sand would not budge this time around. You scratched the top of your skull in confusion, before trying to scrape it away with your claws instead. You jumped back as a pop-up appeared before your eyes, accompanied by a loud "DEE-OOO".

You have not claimed this land, you may not change it. To claim land, find a Claimant Crystal

You stared at the message in disbelief. Were they serious? What bastard gods had decided to take away the one thing you could (metaphorically) fight for? You couldn't believe it, they had made it so your own cave wasn't yours anymore. You crossed your arms in anger, wishing that you could shout to let your anger out.

It wasn't like you could storm out of the cave, the outside was just sand and dunes as far as the eye can see, not to mention the other monsters. This also made you unable to find a "Claimant Crystal", as you were not in the mood to wander the entire desert looking for a single gem.

Now that you thought about it, you had heard the name Claimant Crystal before, but where? It came to you, that had only been a few minutes ago, in the update. You pulled it back up and looked it over. Sure enough, right at the top was a message, saying that level 3 adventurers got one.

You fell backwards, landing on the rough floor in surrender. You had to kill a player to get one? How could they do this to you? When they knew this world had been built so that players won almost every battle that was supposed to be evenly matched, how could they make it so in order to clean your mural, you needed to kill one?

You argued with yourself. Perhaps you could kill a level 3 adventurer? No, probably not. You perhaps had a level advantage, but rule one of being a monster is that there is no such thing as a lone adventurer. If they were able to make it to this point in the desert, they were either in a team or way to powerful for you to handle in any capacity.

You rolled into a cross-legged position, pondering your options. You couldn't just sit here, discussing the finer points of a puddle with voices in your head. You had to do something, but what could you do? Perhaps you could make an appeal? But you doubted the gods would listen, after all, you were a level 5 skeleton out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. Hell, even you couldn't point the location of this cave out on a map, it being the only landmark you had ever found in the days walk you could survive outside before you were inevitably slain and sent back.

You drummed your knuckles on your skull, trying to get yourself to think. What could solve this issue? You couldn't speak, so therefore you couldn't trade most likely. To add to this, you had nothing of value, and no one came to this cave except the occasional completionists wanting to find every location.

As you sat and pondered, your mind wandered to other thoughts. To the time you had spent in this cave. It had been so long, you recalled seeing notifications of some of the great world events from within this cave. Your first memory seemed to be during the second great world event, known as the Dragon Conquest. It had put many great beings into their current seats of power, or so you were told by those who had the curtesy to not kill you on sight. You knew you showed up during it because you remember the message regarding its conclusion, but you are certain you never saw its beginning.

You were rather sure this made you one of the oldest beings in this world, as most that were older were otherworldly entities, ancient dragons, or the gods and the adventurers known as "OGs". You were certain that even the beings hyped up by those you spoke to, including the legendary "Great Wyrm of Imporne" or the other rumored "Worldcrusher Wurm" (which were both somehow supposed to be at the summit of the same mountain, that never made sense), were younger than the first event, which would make you around the same age, or at least that was your reasoning.

These thoughts only made you angrier. What gave them the right to be famous beings that even adventurers feared, while you were stuck being an almost random skeleton? Had you not endured the same if not more hardship than them? Had you not tried hard enough, or was it just luck?

You gritted your teeth in annoyance, they probably didn't even have to deal with this issue of claimed land, as they already had dungeons they owned. They most likely were just allowed to keep them, the privileged bastards. Your metaphorical blood boiled at the thought of the gods pandering to those who already had all the power. "The rich get richer", you had heard the adventurers say, and you agreed with the usual annoyed tone they had when they spoke those words.

As you continued to gown down a few rabbit holes of thought, you slowly became aware of noise outside the cave. It was slight at first, and you assumed it to be the traditional snake or such, but it steadily became louder. At last, you were able to recognize footsteps in the sand, a sound that most likely meant adventurers.

You could not contain your disappointment. The update had just happened, how where there already adventurers here? You stood up again, and for lack of a better option, held your bush in your offhand as you readied your claws, preparing incase this was the usual, unfriendly adventurer.