The first week of training was the most boring time for the new members. They just stood for eight hours a day, doing nothing. Silent and not moving.
However, as they entered the second week, they missed the boring training.
Isaac trained the physical endurance of the new recruits. They were obliged to spar with each other all day long. Once every thirty minutes, they changed partners to spar again. If normal physical combat wouldn't be a problem for hunters, they were required to spar with all their skills. In other words, they continued to drain their mana non-stop.
If their mana ran out, they were allowed to rest for twenty minutes. After that, they should return to sparring again.
The purpose of the training was to measure the endurance and mana capacity of each human soldier. Mana was the most crucial thing in a battle; like energy. When mana was no longer flowing in the body, they would weaken. If that happened in the battle, the result would be death.
Isaac wanted them to be more sensitive to the expenditure of mana in the body, thus, they could learn how to manage mana usage in a battle.
In the third week, Isaac trained the members on how to fight as a team. He taught about battle formations, how to deal with an enemy who was superior in numbers, how to control the flow in the battlefield, and various other kinds of knowledge.
He poured out as much of his knowledge as a Dungeon Master that humans could apply.
Isaac's task here was not only to teach them how to fight in a team, but how to unite various characters in one group.
This phase was enough to give Isaac a headache. Most of the new members were solo hunters, they had high egos. They didn't like being controlled or becoming someone subordinated. As a result, there was more fighting than cooperation.
To handle this, Isaac used some force.
Isaac divided them into 80 groups. It meant each group consisted of ten people. Then, he made them fight with other groups and gave them a ranking. The group that was ranked in the bottom 30 would receive a penalty, namely four hours of extra sparring practice when they should have returned home.
If they didn't want to get punished, they inevitably had to put their egos aside and communicate with each other. They must have the will to fix themselves.
Isaac wanted his human soldiers to unite. He knew that in order to unite people with different characters; they had to face a crisis. That way, they would have one common goal. Diversity was great, but similarities were certain.
In the fourth week, Isaac ordered them to practice the same as in the second week. He felt there was nothing more to give to his men. He just needed to provide repetitive training to improve discipline.
Besides, Isaac had already seen a lot of development in his men. Although there was no change in level and stats, mentally and in readiness, they were much better than before.
'Training humans is fun too.'
Isaac smirked as he watched the new recruits train vigorously.
It had been almost a month since he left his dungeon. During that time, Pippi had not contacted Isaac via telepathy. It meant the dungeon was in good condition.
While Isaac was training the new recruits, a girl with long black hair came over.
"Brother Isaac, I've studied the pile of papers you gave me last night."
"Good," Isaac replied.
Wang Yi was in a dishevelled state. Dark circles formed above her eyes. She didn't sleep all night because she studied the training materials that Isaac had made.
"I didn't think you had the time to write all of that. Don't you ever sleep?" she added curiously.
Isaac tapped Wang Yi's shoulder.
"From now on, I will leave them to you."
"Eh—!?"
Wang Yi's eyes, which had been close to closing because she was sleepy, suddenly opened wide.
"You're going again? Until when?" A curious expression appeared on the girl's face.
Isaac didn't answer.
Wang Yi sighed. She realized there was no point in asking Isaac. The man never told her, but strangely, she didn't suspect him in the slightest.
"Okay," she replied in a disappointed tone.
Then, a young man seemed to run over them.
"Brother!"
Guo Chen arrived before the two of them. His whole body was drenched in sweat, but his face didn't show any signs of fatigue.
The young man started to show his childish nature. He started to act friendly towards Isaac in front of Wang Yi. When Isaac told him that he was about to leave again, a look of disappointment etched on the man's face.
"What?! You want to go again, Brother? Come on, just stay here."
Seeing Guo Chen whining, Wang Yi clicked her tongue and then scolded him.
"Hey, don't act like a ten-year-old child. Go back to training there."
One of Guo Chen's eyebrows arched. "Why are you controlling me? You want to abuse your power as the Guild master's younger sister? Tsk tsk… how disappointing."
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"
Instantly, the two adults quarrelled. Isaac saw that their relationship was closer without his knowledge. He also didn't expect Guo Chen to be so bold with Wang Yi. He remembered that Guo Chen was very shy in front of a woman. Even the young man looked like a quiet boy when he met Wang Yi for the first time.
Now, Guo Chen's attitude had turned 180 degrees.
'Did something happen between the two of them?'
Isaac shook his head, ignoring the thought. As long as it didn't go against his plan, there was no problem with it.
He then walked away. Spontaneously, Wang Yi and Guo Chen stopped their bickering.
"Brother!" they both exclaimed in unison.
Isaac didn't turn around and just waved his hand. He then left the practice room.
As Isaac walked in the lobby, his chest felt a strange sensation. A familiar sensation.
He stopped and touched his chest.
'What is this…? Sentiment…?'
Isaac chuckled. This feeling was similar to the one he had felt before. He took a deep breath, then it exhaled slowly. He neutralized his feelings.
'I have to be objective.'
Demons never had friends. They only had allies. Isaac was no exception. Having contact with humans reminded him of his stupidity. He didn't want to repeat it one more time.
The last time he felt it, a cold dagger pierced through his stomach.
.
.
.
"Lord! Finally you came back!"
Isaac had just arrived in the dungeon. Pippi quickly ran towards him. The little girl hugged her master while crying happily. Isaac's clothes were wet with tears and snot.
He then flicked his assistant's forehead.
"AW!"
Pippi let go of the hug and held her red forehead right away.
"What happened while I was away?" Isaac asked in a cold tone.
Pippi quickly posed a salute. Her attitude changed in a matter of seconds.
"Report, Lord! The dungeon is safe. The stupid humans started climbing on the 3rd Floor. The number of deaths increased rapidly, but there was no sign of the number of visitors decrease."
Isaac opened the 'control panel' to make sure of Pippi's report. He checked all the data. The distribution of humans on the dungeon map was evenly distributed, the number of monster deaths decreased, and the highest human death rate occurred on the 3rd Floor.
Nothing went wrong, as he expected.
"How many zenny have we got this month?" Isaac muttered. Pippi who heard that just smiled, as if she wanted to give her lord a surprise.
Isaac then opened the status window.
<Dungeon Status>
[Dungeon Floors : 3]
[Monster Boss : 1/3]
[Population : 200,639/300,000]
[Fund : 1,007,894 zenny ]
His eyes were wide open. The last time the funds he had left was around 600,000 zenny. In less than a month, he earned around 400,000 zenny.
"Excellent..."
Isaac's lips curled up unconsciously. This exceeded his expectations. The 'treasure' hunt would take a long time, but the results could be harvested faster.
"As you planned, Lord. There were many humans who died because of the treasure room on the 3rd Floor."
As it was known, the treasure room was a trap for humans.
The treasure room had a hidden mechanism, namely selecting victims. Inside the room, there was a statue of a goddess that gave buff and debuff effects. When humans entered, one of the effects would be activated.
If the hunters who entered the treasure room were at a low level—for now, between level 15 or below—the buff effect would activate, giving a 50% increase in 'strength' & 'magic' stats.
However, if the hunters entered the treasure room were at a high level—for now, between level 20 or higher—the debuff effect would activate, giving a 30% 'strength' & 'constitution' stats drop.
Those who were weak would survive, while those who were strong would die.
His goal in creating this was to provide evidence to the hunters that there were humans who had survived after entering the treasure room.
Humans weren't stupid creatures. It was quite easy for them to figure out the trap. They would not fall into a trap for the second time, even if there was a valuable item inside.
However, there were still one or two greedy humans who were desperate to enter the room.
If they could get out safely and carry a high-class item. This would trigger other hunters to try to enter the treasure room.
Even though there were many who died, as long as there were still some who managed to get out safely, the hunters would risk their lives to fall into the trap. Isaac was well aware of human greed.
As a result, Isaac not only managed to recover the income but also managed to harvest ripe humans.
"Now, what is our plan?" Pippi asked innocently.
"Waiting."
Pippi narrowed her eyes in confusion. She didn't understand. "Waiting?"
"Yeah. We'll wait until auction day comes."
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