Is this really a Game?!

The second day began quietly, though the tension was present. They had managed to wrangle the chaos on the first day, stopping the bull before it could do anything, getting the angry mutated pig back into the pen, and easily pushing the other pigs back after the mutated one had calmed down, and they managed to stop the chicken from wreaking havoc as well.

Luckily for them, the reinforced pig pen being destroyed was not counted in the trial as they were the ones who had made it. Only the structures that Reign and the others built by themselves would be counted in the quest, they could destroy and modify everything else as they wished.

The team was now observing the ranch, staring at the animals who were quite peaceful, but they knew it was only a matter of time before something went wrong again. The challenge, one very deceptive and seemingly simple at first, had already tested their patience, strength, and coordination, but luckily for them, one thing that Reign and the entire group excelled at was adapting to the situation.

"If the same things as yesterday repeat, we will be able to control the animals with ease, but I doubt the system would have made this trial last 72 hours if it wasn't going to make it harder as time progressed."

"Yeah, we might have to do our best to control even more berserk farm animals today, it won't be easy, that's for sure.' Beast stated as he stared at the animals Reign nodded.

"Yes, I doubt there will be any outside interference, no monsters will appear, I guess, and there's no place from which monsters could appear, after all, this ranch is located in the middle of a seemingly endless plain, we can see miles around us, and there is nothing but short grass, no monster can come here without being spotted from afar."

"Well, the system could always teleport them over here if it wished to do so, in fact, the location might have been chosen so that the system could surprise us. Who knows, the system might just drop some monsters on us when we are least expecting them," Beast said with a serious expression as Reign furrowed his brows, glanced over at him, and nodded his head.

"You're right, we need to be careful, and alert that such a thing could happen."

As the morning wore on, the animals seemed calm—almost too calm. The pigs, which had caused so much trouble the day before, were lazily grazing, and the chickens, though still fast, stayed close to their pens. The group kept a close watch on the "mutant" animals, knowing they were the key to keeping the rest in check.

Tank, Greenie, and Jin were busy reinforcing the fences even further, using their immense strength to drive the reinforced wooden beams deep into the ground, hoping to prevent another breakout. Mia and Laura were managing the animals' behavior with their respective powers, keeping them calm.

But as the sun rose higher, casting long shadows across the ranch, the first sign of trouble appeared.

One of the cows, a mutated one that was larger than the others, began acting strange. It started pacing back and forth, its nostrils flaring and its eyes wild. Before anyone could react, the cow suddenly charged at the wooden fence separating it from the field, shattering the reinforced beams with ease.

"Dammit! Not again!" Beast shouted, sprinting toward the cow.

Reign was already on the move. He dashed toward the runaway animal, his swords drawn but his mind racing. He couldn't harm the cow, but he needed to stop it before it caused any more damage.

The cow had luckily charged right away, thus the other cows were still somewhat normal, their crazed state not reflecting back on them. The mutated bull was also not close, and it was still acting fine, but they were keeping an eye on it.

"Come here!" Tank suddenly yelled as he charged, a huge bull materializing around him as he charged at the cow, with seemingly murderous intent, making Reign and the others stare at him in shock.

"What the hell are you doing, you can't hurt it!" Reign yelled as Tank glanced at him and nodded, but continued charging forward without changing a thing. Reign and the others glanced over at one another and decided to stay put and observe, placing their faith in Tank.

He was a meathead most of the time, but he wasn't dumb, and he knew that they would definitely fail the challenge if he actually harmed the cow.

As he got closer and closer to the cow, they quickly began to realize what he was planning. The mutated cow, which had seemingly gone mad and was galloping with a craze present in its eyes, stared at Tank with fear, the red eyes shaking as the redness started dissipating, leaving the cow in a fearful, but more calm state.

It then took two steps back, then turned around, and ran back to the enclosure they had created right outside of the barn where the cows had been placed, not daring to leave it as Tank slowed down before stopping, the avatar of the bull dissipating, scattering in the air.

"I thought since it is a bull that forms around me, and it is quite larger than even the mutated one there, it might be enough to scare the cow off, and force it to calm down." Tank said as he stared at the cow which was now grazing, not even a hint of the previous berserk state present on it.

"I'm glad it worked, it would have been a bit difficult to stop in time to not hurt it had it not," Tank said with a wide smile as he glanced at Reign and the others who were staring at him and shaking their heads.

"It was a good idea, and luckily it worked perfectly well, but please do share the idea with us next time, we thought you were going to pulverize the poor cow for a moment there," Beast said as he placed a hand on Tank's shoulder and sighed, causing Tank to nod his head.

"Beastie, you know, I noticed something." Tank suddenly said as he glanced at Beast who glanced back with a confused expression.

"Yeah, what did you notice?"

"Aren't you taller than before, I remember you could barely reach my shoulders with your hands before, now it seems easier for you."

"Or wait, did I get smaller?!" Tank exclaimed, his eyes widening in shock.

"No, you're not getting smaller, he really has grown, we just didn't notice it before because we are always together," Shadow said as he stared at Beast.

"Now that you mention it, he has gotten more muscular as well, he used to be as thin as a twig before, but now he actually looks decently built, athletic even," Wolf added as he nodded his head while Laura nodded as well.

"Yes, his arms are no longer as small as mine, but bigger."

Reign and the others all suddenly froze and turned their heads away while attempting to not chuckle or laugh as Beast's face turned red. He remembered how in the past when Laura had just joined them, she commented on that.

She stared at Beast back then and made a comment about how their arms were pretty much the same size, and that fact made Beast freeze in shock as he truly did not expect to hear something like that.

"It must be all the fighting we have done, the grueling battles, training, as well as the blood I ingested from my monsters, I feel my body change every time I take the blood, it gets a bit larger."

"Hmmmm … a side effect of your ability?" Wolf asked with an interested expression.

"Does that mean that if you reach the Saint realm and ingest the blood of who knows how many beasts at that point, you're going to be bigger than Tank?"

"I – I don't know," Beast said as he glanced to the side.

"Another problem."

"Ducks," Shadow said with a serious expression as they all stared at a small pond where some ducks were located.

They were swimming and diving, but they were doing it so quickly and with such force that the water of the pond was becoming violent, waves forming on the surface and the water spilling around the pond.

Actually, their movements alone even caused a strong wind to appear right above the pond, and it seemed that as things stood, the ducks might end up draining the pond of all water merely by swimming on its surface.

That was nothing that Reign and the others had to worry about, the problem was that in a manner similar to the chicken, the ducks were moving so quickly and without any goal that they were starting to hit one another, and could end up harming each other.

"Shall I freeze the pond, lock them in place?" Mia asked as Beast shook his head.

"Nah, I'll summon my dragon, he can control the water and use that to catch them all in mere seconds, and then you can freeze the water, doing it like this might hurt some of them."