Isaac's eyes remained sharp even after three full days of staring at the control panel screen inside the Crystal Core Room. His hands moved quickly and nimbly, pressing every option that existed in the panel. Sometimes, his eyes looked at the crystal light projection that showed the conditions in his dungeon.
At the same time, Pippi's exhausted voice sounded in his head
"Lord, I have reduced the traps on the 3rd Floor which is in the southern region. Besides, the gnolls were constantly protesting against the different territories of the goblins. Is there anything else I need to do?"
Isaac didn't answer. He was still focused on the control panel screen. It wasn't long before he spoke.
"Good, Pippi. Now take some monsters with you to hunt the Leechers."
The sound of a long sigh rang out in his head. "Okay, Lord."
Two weeks had passed since Isaac had scattered various items and artefacts in the dungeon. The plan worked, but it was a little out of the way.
The hunters who visited the dungeon were not only interested in the blacksmith's forge on the 2nd Floor, they started hunting monsters to get item drops from monsters. The number of deaths slowly increased over time.
Even the number of visiting hunters increased drastically in a few days. People from all over the world started flying to China or Russia to have the dungeon raid. So that the more ripe humans Isaac could harvest.
However, these positive effects came along with the negative effects.
The number of hunters who visited was increased highly, and the interest in hunting monsters was also high, causing a drastic decrease in the number of monsters in the dungeon. The hunters preferred to hunt monsters rather than looking for the Power Crystals.
Beside, the 'leecher' began to grow fast again in the dungeon. Robberies and murders of the fellow hunters appeared. The zenny potential that Isaac would receive was reduced.
Thus, Isaac was currently busy reorganizing his dungeon.
'Only a little more, and the terrain rearrangement on the 3rd Floor is complete.'
Isaac had been working for a week to reorganize the terrain on Floor 3. The terrain on Floor 3 was a labyrinth full of illusion traps, deadly traps, and level 30 to 35 monsters—the majority of the current hunters were at level 20 to 30.
It could be said, previously the floor was designed to be impossible to penetrate, and it was so deadly. He made the 3rd Floor his 'harvest' place. There was a high probability that the hunters who went up there would die.
This led to the emergence of a myth among the hunters that the 3rd Floor was a black hole. Anyone who entered the 3rd Floor would die, so it was not surprising that hunters were reluctant to go up.
At first, this was not a problem, but after various hunters around the world entered, there was an imbalance in the dungeon.
The high-level hunters preferred to hunt the monsters on the 1st and 2nd Floors. The monsters there were slaughtered, forcing Isaac to burn the zenny continuously to upgrade the population in the dungeon.
Pippi suggested buying a 'boss' to place on the 1st and 2nd Floors. However, Isaac refused, because he wanted to make the first two floors a place for low-level hunters to thrive.
Besides, Isaac already had plans of his own.
To make the hunters want to hunt on the 3rd Floor, Isaac made a few tweaks to the number of items in the dungeon.
He reset the item values and drop rates of the monsters on each floor. The lower the floor, the lower the item's value and drop rate.
In other words, hunters would have a hard time finding the items on low floors. Even if they found them, they would only get low grade items. If they wanted to get more items of high quality, they had to go up to a higher floor.
The plan Isaac had arranged: Floor 1 would have a 5% drop rate, Floor 2 a drop rate of 10%, and Floor 3 a drop rate of 30%.
However, before that, Floor 3 difficulty needed to be reset. He had to make sure that many hunters returned alive after entering the 3rd Floor. That way, the rumors circulating among the hunters could be dispelled, and they could spread good news.
Actually, Isaac could eradicate them just like during the Clearance carried out by North Korea, but he was worried that the reputation of the 'friendly dungeon' would be damaged again.
Phew.
'Finally…'
Isaac quickly took a deep breath. The complex and tedious process of building the terrain on the 3rd Floor was finally completed.
'Just putting on the finishing touches.'
He opened the 'shop' and took out 200,000 zenny to buy the 'boss'.
[You bought the boss monster 'Asterius - Ancestral Minotaur (C)']
After that, he quickly sent Asterius to the 3rd Floor, as the lord of the floor.
[Inputting the boss monster 'Asterius - Ancestral Minotaur (C)' to the 3rd Floor]
Then, Isaac smiled bitterly. He checked the dungeon's status.
<Dungeon Status>
[Dungeon Floors : 3/3]
[Monster Boss : 1/3]
[Population : 180,000/300,000]
[Fund : 639,745 zenny]
'I hope the price of 200,000 zenny is worth your abilities.'
Since the difficulty of the 3rd Floor was reduced, there was a chance that the hunters could conquer this floor. So, to prevent them from breaking through to the Crystal Core Room, Isaac needed to put an unrivalled guard, at least for now.
Minotaurs were generally D-class beast-type monsters and had a level of 30. They were very strong in terrain that had twists and turns and tight spaces. And they would weaken in open spaces, such as fields or meadows located on Floor 2.
With Floor 3 being the Labyrinth and plus a 20% buff effect from Isaac's title, Chief of the Beast, making Asterius the strongest monster in the dungeon.
'I'm sure everything will work out.'
Isaac wiped the sweat off his forehead. Then, Pippi's voice sounded in his head again.
"Lord! Pippi was done patrolling. Today, 25 Leechers were found. Report completed." Pippi's voice was weak.
"Good, Pippi," said Isaac with a smile on his face.
"May Pippi rest, Lord?"
"Of course ..."
Then, Pippi could be heard cheering. Unfortunately, the little girl was celebrating too early. Isaac hadn't finished speaking yet.
"... After you helped me complete the final dungeon task."
Instantly, a tone of disappointment sounded in Isaac's head. "Pippi has been working non-stop for days, Pippi's body is very tired. May Pipp rest for a moment, Lord?"
Isaac frowned. "Since when did a being made of Crystal Core energy feel exhausted? You want to play with your pet bear, right?"
"Hey—!"
Although Isaac seemed unconcerned, he kept an eye on Pippi's activities every day. He knew very well that his assistant was very fond of the beasts.
"Don't be lazy, Pippi. If you want to play with your bear quickly, help me finish the last task."
"Aye aye, Lord!" Pippi's voice suddenly changed.
Then, they move on to the next task.
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