The Clearance failed.
Park Jisung, the leader of the operation, was found dead with an incomplete body. The operation was quickly stopped, and the leader of the operation was handed over to Wang Mei.
All the guilds involved in the operation suffered heavy losses. Over 800 Nine Sky members were killed, and the Heavenly Dragon members were only a handful of people left. Meanwhile, the Siberian Knights Guild was completely wiped out.
Guo Chen and Wang Yi managed to get out of the 'cooking place' after being trapped there for two days. They were found back in the camp in disarray and starving. Even so, the two of them seemed stronger than before.
Wang Mei became the leader of the operations, pulling all his guild members and all the guilds involved out of the dungeon.
On the other hand, Isaac was also at a loss. At least 1000 more of his monsters were killed in this operation. However, it was proportional to the amount of profit he got.
He earned 800,000 zenny from this operation. It was slightly higher than he had expected.
Of course, this event brought not only benefits but also backlash. A few days after the Clearance was complete, an unpleasant news circulated in the human world. One of the great Guilds from Russia disbanded, causing an uproar in the Hunter world.
According to rumours, the Siberian Knights teamed up with a Chinese guild to help North Korea claim the Dungeon on the border. However, they failed and were finished with nothing left. This gossip became hot news on the internet. Of course, this had an impact on Isaac.
Over the past few weeks Isaac's Dungeon had undergone a decrease in visitor traffic. However, this situation did not last long. His Dungeon visitors started to increase again after the rumours of the existence of a blacksmith's forge on the 2nd Floor circulated. Many Hunters were interested in making weapons and requested repairment to the dwarves because the results were satisfactory.
This matched Isaac's prediction, although there were some predictions that were wrong.
.
.
.
Isaac looked deep in thought in the Crystal Core room all alone. His eyes stared blankly into the air, but his brain kept thinking hard. Then, a voice interrupted his concentration.
"Lord, is something bothering you?"
Pippi suddenly appeared beside him. She showed a curiosity on her face.
"Pippi, what do you think about the current state of the Dungeon?"
The little girl frowned as she pouted her lips. "Pippi feels fine. The number of visitors did go down a little, but it has started to rise and is even more than usual now. Especially on the 2nd Floor, there are a lot of humans queuing up at the blacksmith's forge."
"That's it, most of them are focused on the 2nd Floor. There were only a few who were trying to explore the Dungeon again. It was as if they had no interest in levelling or looking for the Power Crystals. As a result, the number of deaths has decreased."
Now, Pippi understood what Isaac was worried about. The number of Dungeon visitors increased, but not the income.
Even though the Hunters got good weapons from the blacksmith's forge on the 2nd Floor, they didn't want to level up or look for the Power Crystals. They just get new weapons and equipment, after that they go home through the monster-free route.
'Why don't they want to hunt monsters or look for Power Crystals?'
"They might want to hunt in another Dungeon," Pippi chimed in.
Instantly, Isaac's eyes opened wide. The little girl was actually just talking nonsense, but she showed the real root of the problem.
"That's right…"
Humans had been willing to risk their lives to enter a monster's lair for one reason, the Power Crystal. And these items could be found in every Dungeon on Earth.
Since yesterday's Clearance, the Hunters considered his Dungeon to be a very deadly place. If there were dangerous predators in the hunting grounds, the hunters would look for prey in other places.
'So, they'd rather steal the Power Crystals elsewhere, huh… how unbelievable.'
Isaac clicked his tongue. He wanted to send the monsters to finish them off. Unfortunately, he couldn't be careless. It would only mess up his efforts on restoring the Dungeon's reputation.
He had to find a way to get the Hunters to hunt monsters and mine the Power Crystals in his Dungeon again.
"Pippi, what do you think that makes humans interested in exploring the dungeon again?"
Isaac thought again, and Pippi seemed to be doing the same. The little girl seemed to squint her eyes into mere slits. It wasn't long before she came up with an idea.
"How about we make them do the treasure hunt?"
"Hunt… the treasure?"
The little girl nodded. "That's right. Every day humans enter the Dungeon only to get the Power Crystals. I think they are bored. So we can give them a new experience. Hehe…"
Once again, Isaac was taken aback by Pippi's words. To think that the creature he thought was innocent and stupid could give him a great idea.
Although he saw Pippi's ideas in a different light.
He needed to give them, the Hunters, something more valuable like the Power Crystals. Something that could only be found in his Dungeon and nowhere else.
'I'll let you guys taste the special thing that the Demon Lords have.'
Isaac then stroked the little girl's head.
"You're a genius Pippi."
Pippi was taken aback, then the girl turned arrogant. She puffed out her chest and said, "Of course, Pippi."
[You bought x1000 item 'Low-Potion (F)']
[You bought x500 item 'Medium-Potion (E)']
[You bought x1000 item 'Low-Ether (F)']
[You bought the artefact weapon 'Durandal Sword (F)']
[You bought the artefact armor 'Rosefinch (F)']
[You bought the artefact ring 'Willow (D)']
[You bought the scroll 'Speed Up (F)']
[.. .]
Pippi looked surprised to see Isaac spend 40,000 zenny at once.
"Lord! What are you doing? Why did you spend your money on those items?"
Now, it was Isaac's turn to be surprised. "Weren't you the one who said to make them do the treasure hunt? This is the treasure we gave them."
"Oh, I see, Lord. Hehe…" Pippi stroked the back of her head.
Isaac shook his head. It turned out he had overestimated his assistant. He wouldn't ask Pippi what the 'treasure' meant for her.
"Now, I have a task for you."
Isaac gave all the items to Pippi and told his assistant to scatter the items in every corner of the Dungeon. Of course, those items wouldn't just sit on the ground. Some of them would be carried by monsters.
"Aye aye, Lord." Pippi posed the usual salute before leaving to do Isaac's order.
After that, her body turned into shards of light and disappeared. It was Isaac and the Crystal Core left in the room.
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