Hitting the motherlode

Liam panted as he reached the cave entrance. He had never expected this to happen.

His long hair whipped in the wind and he quickly ran into the cave, his entire body drenched in sweat and his stamina far too low.

But he didn't care about this right now, as he could clearly see that the inside of the cave was still sparkling.

Moreover, Niria was clearly in the middle of its tantrum, roaring loudly, so there was no one guarding the treasures this time around!!!

"Jackpot!" Liam shouted, licking his lips.

Even though he had faced enough in his life, giving him a calm and steady mentality, he still couldn't help but be agitated a bit at the sight of the three or four remaining mounds inside the cave, all sparkling brightly.

He hurriedly dashed forward and shoveled everything in sight into his inventory slots. He didn't know when everything was going to disappear, so he didn't bother looking at things and blindly popped everything in.

Thankfully, all the gold, silver, and copper were automatically stored as currency and didn't occupy any space in the actual inventory space. Otherwise, he would have run out of slots a long time ago.

Apart from more gold coins, there were a variety of gems, more skill books, and recipe scrolls, not to mention ores, herbs, and all sorts of equipments.

About three-fourths of his 500 slot inventory was completely filled, leaving Liam most probably the richest player in all of the game.

He had cleared out the entire cave from top to bottom in the span of a few seconds. He even took the time to double check the space, making sure every nook and corner was emptied out.

And when he was finally done, Liam approached the farthest corner of the cave, the lair of the dragon, Niria's resting place.

The spot looked empty enough, except for the straw and husk bedding on top of which the beast laid. There were also a couple of bones, probably from the dragon's last meal but other than that no particular treasure was present.

Hmmm… Liam hummed, turning around and about to leave when he suddenly paused for a while. He looked at the bedding again and squinted his eyes, and squatted down.

He ran his hand through the inconspicuous bedding and started to patiently dismantle it. His hands were quick yet careful as he ripped apart the thick heap of bedding to shreds.

Bingo!

Liam's lips curled upwards as he caught sight of three objects hidden cozily at the center of the bedding.

The dragon probably never cared about the other treasures which it displayed casually, while it personally guarded these three items by hiding them under its body.

This alone told Liam volumes about the potential value of these three items. He did not waste any further time and quickly grabbed all three, only inspecting it afterward.

He sat back down and placed them on the ground, picking them up one by one. The first one was a white colored medium-sized oval object, quite heavy.

"Is this an egg?" Liam muttered, carefully placing it in one of the inventory slots.

He then took the second item which looked like a shard, violet in color, probably broken from a gem of some sort.

Hmmm… He carefully placed it in his inventory and then took the third item, which was an old and rusted key.

"What the hell?"

Again, Liam had no idea what this was even though this was the second time he was playing this game. The people who had looted this cave previously or rather died attempting to, never mentioned anything about these three items.

He had heard lots about the heaps of gold, gems, recipe scrolls, and skill books, but nothing about an egg or a shard or a key.

Firstly, he was not sure if someone had managed to loot the entire cave as he did, but even if they did and on the off chance that these items were extremely valuable, only fools would publicize that information.

So either no one got it or at least the person who got it was not stupid.

"Well whatever." Liam ruffled his head and then tossed the key as well into his inventory slot.

Without lingering inside longer, he stood up from the dirty cave ground and dusted his clothes before walking back out.

All these treasure spots were good and all, but that was not his main purpose in playing the game.

In fact, when the inevitable apocalypse descends, these gold coins or even the real world currency would mean next to nothing.

Only true strength and power mattered!

As he superficially scrolled through the various items in his inventory, Liam walked out of the cave.

His eyes scanned the forest grounds below where Niria was still kicking up a storm and roaring loudly. He, however, had no intention of dropping down and joining the fight.

To defeat Niria a horde of at least 25 players were required, all battling the dragon in perfect sync and coordination.

The people in front of him were just recklessly fighting the dragon with their lives on the line.

He knew that they were never going to beat the dragon this way or at least it was going to take a long time to do so.

But Liam knew better than to join a losing fight.

Unlike others who couldn't care less about a couple of losses or deaths since it was still the beginning of the game, he knew the true cost of death.