Isaac’s smile gradually became stiff.
Out of everyone, the two who had looked like the weakest had somehow turned into the biggest troublemakers.
The situation had unfolded in a way he hadn’t expected at all.
He rubbed his brows with a quiet sigh before looking at Celeste.
"Do you need my help to handle them?" he asked, his tone remaining calm despite the headache the little bunnies had caused.
"No, Master. They have almost been suppressed already. They will be brought here shortly," she answered.
Isaac gave a small nod and decided not to interfere. Since everything had more or less already settled down, there was no point in stepping in now. Instead, he shifted his attention back toward the "dining area".
Punpun had woken up, and brought with the four powerful Happy Bunnies that had been captured to feeding area. As soon as they reached Alice, who was distributing food, the little creatures completely forgot about everything else and happily resumed eating as though nothing unusual had happened.
Only one of them behaved differently. The lightning-attributed Happy Bunny kept glancing toward Isaac every few moments, its body remaining noticeably tense whenever their eyes met. It looked as though some instinct deep inside it was warning it to stay cautious.
Isaac quietly observed the little bunny for a moment. It was unlikely that the creature truly understood who he was after being born only a day ago.
Instead, it seemed far more likely that it possessed an unusually sharp sensitivity toward mana.
His mana pool had become enormous after everything that had happened recently. To a creature with heightened mana perception, standing near him was probably like standing before an unimaginably dangerous predator.
That instinctive pressure alone was enough to make the little bunny nervous.
Alice soon noticed the bunny’s trembling as well. She walked over without saying anything and gently picked it up before softly stroking its fluffy back. After remaining tense for several moments, the bunny gradually relaxed in her embrace.
Its ears slowly stopped twitching, and the fear faded from its eyes. Before long, it returned its attention to the feast with the same enthusiasm as the others, as though nothing had happened.
Not far away, Celia had already started speaking with Punpun. Among all the Happy Bunnies, Punpun was clearly the smartest, but there was something else that made him stand out from the rest.
The other Happy Bunnies were intelligent too, yet they behaved mostly according to curiosity and excitement. Punpun, on the other hand, carried himself with an odd sense of responsibility that seemed unusual for someone who had only existed for a single day.
Isaac quietly watched the interaction while his thoughts drifted elsewhere. The more he observed the Happy Bunnies, the more convinced he became that raising them would not be easy.
’These bunnies are difficult to control. Still, they’re basically superpowered children right now, so it makes sense that they’re this chaotic,’ he thought.
Their behavior was troublesome, but it wasn’t unreasonable considering how young they were.
His thoughts naturally shifted toward their growth instead. Compared to their current personalities, their future potential was far more important.
The Happy Bunnies had been born directly at the Overlord rank. That alone would have been enough to shock anyone familiar with monsters, yet what happened afterward was even more unbelievable.
In less than a single day, their attributes had already grown until they were comparable to the Overlords of Low Rank species. They hadn’t undergone any harsh training or dangerous battles to achieve that growth. They had simply eaten, rested, and continued developing naturally.
Isaac quietly pieced the information together inside his mind. If they continued growing at anything close to this pace until they fully matured, then their natural attributes alone might eventually rival those of High Rank species’ Overlords.
That meant they would possess overwhelming physical abilities before receiving any formal combat training. Once they accumulated experience and developed their skills, there was every reason to believe they would eventually stand alongside Apex Species.
The conclusion sounded unbelievable even to Isaac. Yet every piece of evidence he had gathered pointed toward the same answer.
An Apex Species was not something that appeared casually. Throughout the Florathi Kingdom, powerful nobles competed fiercely whenever an Apex Species Evolution Potion appeared, while legendary equipment capable of challenging an Apex Species was considered just as valuable.
Even Althea, despite being a princess of the Florathi Kingdom, had never obtained an Apex Species Evolution Potion. That alone showed just how extraordinarily rare such opportunities truly were.
Meanwhile, Isaac had somehow created a species that could naturally reach that level through growth alone. The difference between those two situations was difficult to ignore.
Of course, there was still one very practical problem. Isaac looked toward the tables again and watched the Happy Bunnies continue stuffing themselves with food. Their appetites showed no sign of slowing down despite everything they had already consumed.
’I might actually go bankrupt feeding these little gremlins,’ he thought with a helpless smile. He wasn’t even sure whether his current farms could produce enough food once the population expanded further.
Fortunately, that problem had a straightforward solution. If they needed more food, then he would simply grow more crops. Compared to raising future Apex Species, expanding his farms hardly seemed like an unreasonable price to pay.
Very few Lords could think that way. Food was always a problem for most Lords, and if these Happy Bunnies had appeared inside another Lord’s territory, their enormous appetites alone would probably have exceeded what that territory could sustainably produce.
Isaac continued planning ahead.
’I’ll need to create more Happy Bunnies eventually so they can reproduce without worrying about genetic problems.’
However, there was no reason to rush into doing so immediately.
’These little ones should grow up first. Watching them mature will help all of us understand them better before another generation is born,’ he decided.
That would make caring for future young much easier.
Not long afterward, the remaining escaped Happy Bunnies were finally brought back. Isaac quietly looked over each of them and secretly felt relieved when he confirmed that none of them had been injured during the chase.
Celeste and the other dragon maids stepped forward together before lowering their heads.
"We apologize, Master," Celeste said sincerely once again, while the others silently echoed her apology.
"It’s fine. Thankfully, no one was hurt," he said. His voice remained calm, but unlike usual, he didn’t immediately comfort them afterward.
He understood that the situation wasn’t entirely their fault because no one had expected the Happy Bunnies to possess such overwhelming strength immediately after birth. Even so, they should have informed him once they realized they couldn’t handle the situation by themselves.
If the Happy Bunnies had been outside the Soulbind Pendant, the resulting damage could have been catastrophic. He had no intention of blaming the children since they had only been born today, but he expected better judgment from the dragon maids.
The dragon maids clearly understood what he meant. Their expressions briefly filled with shame before they quickly regained their usual professional composure and quietly returned to caring for the young Happy Bunnies.
Eventually, the seemingly endless feast finally came to an end. One after another, the Happy Bunnies stopped eating and lazily sprawled across the floor, their swollen little bellies making it obvious that they had finally become full.
Just then, two small figures walked toward Isaac together.