Is this really a Game?!

Reign's realization hit quite hard as he observed the animals who had transformed to be dangerous and even more unpredictable compared to how they usually were. The trial stated that it was a trial of patience, but it also seemed to be a trial of control, as well as survival.

They had to make sure the ranch was perfectly fine for 3 days, that no animal was harmed, and that they themselves didn't draw the ire of the animals who could definitely dish out some damage.

"This might be even worse than having to protect the animals from monsters." Reign muttered, narrowing his eyes at a particular bull that was larger and taller than others, its massive size and immense power more than enough to overpower any of them when it came to sheer strength.

"If the animals somehow go berserk, we'll be in serious trouble, especially if the ones that go berserk are the 'mutated' ones," Jin stated as he glanced over at some animals. Every single group of animals had one who was 'different'.

Jin called them 'mutated' animals because they were clearly larger and more powerful than the regular ones, and they could all sense that those animals would be quite difficult to deal with if they truly ended up going berserk.

Tank, who was standing nearby, crossed his arms and sighed. "Guess it's not just about feeding them, then. We'll need to be on constant alert to stop them from wrecking the place or hurting each other."

"Exactly," Reign agreed. "And we can't use our full strength without risking injuring the animals or damaging the property, which would fail the trial."

"Well, at least it's not boring," Greenie said with a slight grin, cracking his knuckles. "But if these animals are as strong as Tier VI creatures, we're gonna need to be careful with how we handle them."

Beast, who was calm, looked at the herd of animals. "Careful, yeah. But they're not monsters. Maybe we can control them the same way a normal farmer would. If we stay calm and don't provoke them, they might not try anything."

"In the end, what you thought the system would do kind of happened, we are relegated to working as regular farmers, but instead of the system making us weaker, it just made the animals much stronger, which could prove to be even worse for us."

Reign nodded. "Yes, it is worse when looking at the fact that we can't let them damage the property, but in some cases, it is good for us."

"I mean, even though the animals are quite strong, two or three of us could take down a bull without killing it, which is something that no farmer could honestly do, wrestle a bull and take it down without harming it, especially not with only 2 or 3 people."

The others all nodded at Reign, agreeing with his words. They were in a better position than regular farmers when taking care of the animals, it was just the property that wasn't.

"Alright guys, let's stay alert. We'll divide into shifts to make sure there's always someone watching over them." Reign said, glancing at the animals around them.

"We have been provided accommodations, beds to sleep in, a huge kitchen with plenty of food, it seems we truly don't need to worry about a thing other than taking care of the animals," Laura said as she had just gotten out of a large house that was present on the ranch.

"I'll make sure no one suffers any lasting injuries, same goes for the animals, but let's try not to get hurt in the first place."

"There's plenty of plans around this place, and the animals have not been properly divided, we should start with reinforcing the fences and properly separating all the animals so that they don't start fighting." Tank said as he lifted a plan and raised an eyebrow.

"These are heavy, like … much heavier than a wooden plank should be."

"Really?" Greenie asked before lifting one up and nodding his head.

"They really are, they're more durable as well, I would actually need to use some strength to break it, which doesn't mean much as a couple of these animals could definitely break through these things with ease, but at least they won't destroy a fence merely by touching it."

"Alright, so we have been given some things to help us out, great, now let's start working, we should do our best to complete the reinforcement and separation by the end of the day." Reign said as they all nodded and started doing the tasks they got.

Two hours later, they were still working, reinforcing the ranch as best as they could while keeping their senses sharp for any disturbances. At one part of the ranch, however, Reign and the others were already dealing with the challenges of managing the enhanced animals.

The bull, which Reign had been watching, began to snort and paw at the ground, its massive muscles rippling under its skin. It looked agitated, its eyes wild as it focused on a nearby horse that had wandered too close to its territory. Reign immediately tensed, sensing the danger.

"Everyone, stay back," he warned, stepping closer to the bull. "It's about to charge."

"Seems like the 'mutated' ones are quite territorial."

Before anyone could react, the bull let out a deep bellow and charged at full speed, its hooves tearing up the ground as it headed straight for the horse. Reign leaped into action, using his incredible speed to intercept the bull just before it could reach the horse.

He jumped above the bull and quickly grabbed it by the head. He couldn't go all out and harm the bull, but he had to use enough force to cause some discomfort to the bull, and perhaps even choke it out.

That proved to be nearly impossible. Reign's muscles bulged as he pressed on the neck, and yet, the bull barely felt a thing, it only got more agitated, charging faster toward the horse that was simply staring at it.

"Greenie, Tank, help me!" Reign called out, his muscles straining as he poured more power into his arms and tried to turn the head of the bull in order to make it go sideways.

Greenie rushed forward, grabbing the bull by its horns and using his brute strength to hold it steady. Tank, with his massive shield, positioned himself behind Greenie, pushing his back with his shield and planting his feet into the ground.

Both Greenie and Tank, two massive guys with immense endurance, vitality, and strength, were pushed back by the strength of the bull, leaving deep grooves into the soil as they continued pushing against it.

Reign stopped clenching the neck and placed his hands over the eyes of the bull, disorienting it and causing it to slow down, but also panic.

The bull thrashed wildly, but between the three of them, they managed to calm it down. Slowly, the bull stopped struggling. Its eyes lost their wildness as it glanced forward, and couldn't see the horse near any longer, so it backed away, snorting but no longer aggressive.

"Good job Mia." Reign said as he glanced over at Mia, who had come over and enticed the horse to go with her by offering it some food. With the horse no longer near the bull, the latter had calmed down and they didn't need to do anything else.

Reign sighed in relief and took a deep breath. "That was too close. If we let our guard down for even a second, this whole place could've been destroyed."

"We need to figure out what's causing them to get agitated like this," Tank said, watching as the bull wandered off. "It could be that they're just very territorial, but what if they're being triggered by something?."

"Hmmmm … that wouldn't be impossible," Beast suggested, still observing the other animals. "What if the system is testing us by pushing the animals to their limits? They might be reacting to some hidden signal we can't sense."

"Whatever it is, we need to make sure to constantly observe the animals and not let them do a single thing that can harm the property or the other animals. Why they're acting up isn't even important."

The following 7 hours passed with relative calm. The animals occasionally showed signs of agitation, but the group was able to manage them without too much difficulty. The real challenge came after that when things began to spiral out of control.

It started with the chickens, of all things. Normally small and harmless, the chickens suddenly began moving at blinding speeds, darting around the barnyard and colliding with each other. The air filled with feathers as they zoomed across the field like tiny rockets.

"What the hell?" Shadow exclaimed, dodging a speeding chicken that narrowly missed his head. "They're acting like they're on some kind of energy boost!"

Mia was already in action, creating ice barriers around the animals to prevent them from causing too much chaos. "They're out of control! We can't let them hurt each other."

Meanwhile, Beast was dealing with the pigs, who had suddenly decided to break through their pen. With their enhanced strength, they smashed through the wooden fence like it was made of paper, sending splinters flying.