Pippi laid down while looking at the ceiling with a bored expression on her face. It had been almost a month since her master had not come back from the Challenge Dimension. Being in charge of the dungeon was a tedious job. She had less work to do, especially since Isaac had divided the task of managing the dungeon to each of his trusted monsters. And whenever a problem occurred, it was resolved quickly.
"Hah… Pippi hopes that master will return soon."
And Pippi's wish came true.
A black portal suddenly appeared before her. Pippi instantly jumped with joy at the sight. She quickly got up, ready to greet her master.
From the portal, Isaac came out in quite a shabby condition; mud and dirt stuck to his clothes, and his hair looked disheveled. However, the aura emanating from him felt much different from before. It was stronger and darker.
"Lord!"
As usual, Pippi dashed towards Isaac with a wide smile on her face. She really wanted to hug her master.
"Aa—"
But, a big hand caught the little girl's face. Isaac had anticipated Pippi's presence.
"How many times have I told you not to suddenly run at me?" Isaac said. He then let her go.
Pippi grimaced. "Heh, sorry. Lord. Pippi is tired of being cooped up here for a month."
"Oh, so you're happy to see me because you will be free from the responsibility of managing the dungeon rather than miss me?" Isaac raised one of his eyebrows with an astonished face.
Pippi realized she had made a mistake. She instantly shook her head.
"NO! Pippi also missed Lord Isaac very much. Pippi would rather live in the dungeon than be confined in a small room—"
Pippi quickly covered her mouth. She made a blunder statement again and realized it too late. Then, she grinned and rubbed the back of her head. "Hehe, sorry, Lord."
Meanwhile, Isaac just sighed at the behaviour of his assistant. But, he wouldn't get mad. After seeing Pippi's cheerful expression, he was sure that no trouble had happened to the dungeon during his absence.
Still, he had to make sure of it.
First, he needed to see the status of the dungeon.
<Status Character>
[Isaac Constantine - Lv 115]
[Rank : 99th - Baron ]
[Title : Chief of Beast, First Challenger, Master of the Wind, Heart Touch]
[ Skill : 2/4]
[ Strength : 70 ]
[ Magic : 180 ]
[ Constitution : 96 ]
[ Dexterity : 103 ]
[ Perception : 100 ]
[ Unallocated stat points : 30]
<Dungeon Status>
[Dungeon Floors : 4]
[Monster Boss : 2/4]
[Population : 336,875/400,000]
[Fund : 987,785 zenny]
'From the Challenge Dimension, I got a reward of 100,000 zenny. It seems Pippi has spent quite a bit.'
Then, Isaac opened the control panel window to check the condition of the monster population. The row of numbers in the data and statistical charts showed no oddity at all for the last thirty days. In fact, on the 1st and 2nd Floors, there was an increase.
"Did something happen while I was gone?" Isaac asked.
Pippi touched her chin with her index finger, trying to recall what had been recorded in her head.
"As Pipi recalled, there was not so much trouble going on, Lord."
From the report from Pipi, the situation in the dungeon was under control.
The hunters started to flock to the 4th Floor since two weeks ago. The Elf Village proceeded as planned. The elves and humans also could coexist. Although there was some tension at first, they were finally able to work it out. The elves did their job well, they could be friendly and able to build relationships with humans.
Thanks to that, the shops and the economy were running smoothly. In the transaction, they used the dread stone as currency for the payment.
The dread stone was a drop item that could only be found after killing tainted monsters in the Dire Area.
Isaac had calculated beforehand that there would be a scenario where the hunter was stuck in the Elf Village. A scenario where hunters preferred to enjoy life in that place rather than carried out their jobs as hunters. If the hunters wanted to continue to experience the service and enjoyment of the Elf Village, they had to go hunting in the Dire Area, to colletced dread stones.
He used this as a backup plan in case there were only a few hunters interested in taking on the tier VIII and IX missions of the Elf Village guild. That way, death still occurred on Floor 4.
Meanwhile, Floor 3 ran normally. Asterius did as he was told. The Minotaur Chief filtered the humans who deserved to go to the top or not. He hunted hunters between levels 30 to 35, making sure weak hunters didn't dare to go up before they reached level 35 and above. That way, humans who were harvested exactly reached the best quality.
It could be said Floors 3 and 4 went according to plan, while Floors 1 and 2 took Isaac by surprise.
Based on Pippi's report, the bottom two floors were flooded with newbie hunters. Their number was three times more than the combined number of hunters on the 3rd and 4th Floors.
This was both good and bad news to Isaac.
The good news, of course, the number of humans who would be harvested in the future would increase drastically. As for the bad news, they slaughtered a lot of floor dwellers, forcing Pippi to keep burning zenny to buy new monsters. Even though Pippi had enchanted the goblins and other savage type monsters with fertility magic to boost the number of births, it took time for the baby monsters to become adult monsters.
Pippi had done her job properly. Isaac forbade her to kill them before the harvest time. He then stroked her head. "Good job, Pippi. You did your job properly."
The little girl smiled widely. "Thank you, Lord!"
'It's about the time I apply 'that' to cut the expenses on Floor 1 and Floor 2.'
Just as Isaac was about to return to tweaking the dungeon, a notification could be heard.
Ding!
[You have received a PvP challenge.]
[Baron Gustav send a request to speak]
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