Kai stood at the edge of his southern field, boot sole pressed into the soft tilled earth. Rows of lush, wide-leafed butterhead lettuce shimmered in the sun, twenty beds strong — double what he had just weeks ago.
Each bed was full — eight feet long, four feet wide, packed with bright green heads in staggered rows. The whole setup looked like it belonged on the front page of a food catalog.
But Kai wasn't interested in how it looked.
He was thinking merge patterns.
He opened the Merge System and tapped into the new field menu.
Field Grid Detected: 20 Lettuce Beds
Merge Option Available:
– 2 x Lettuce Beds → 1 x Super Row
Merge Result:
– Yield Per Bed: +75%
– Water Retention: +40%
– Disease Resistance: +30%
– Harvest Window Reduced by 3 days
– Flavor Preservation: High
Total Mergable Units: 10 Super Rows
Warning: Super Rows require optimized irrigation and shading structure.
Kai nodded.
He had a drip-line system rigged from salvaged tubing and two 55-gallon barrels. Shade cloths? He cut and stitched them himself from old tent fabric.
He tapped MERGE ALL.
Each pair of beds rippled in golden light — and restructured. Soil leveled. Rows aligned. The lettuce merged, not just spatially, but genetically. Broader, firmer leaves. Tighter stem clusters. Denser roots.
What used to be twenty scattered beds was now ten flawless Super Rows of elite Gourmet Cluster Lettuce.
"Less land. More product."
He grabbed his notebook and updated the numbers:
LETTUCE CHAIN – SUPER ROW SYSTEM
Bed Type
Count
Heads/Row
Yield
Super Row
10
24–30
~260 heads/week
Merge Rate
–
4x heads → 1 Gourmet Cluster
Cluster Yield: ~65/week
Crate Composition:
– 1 Gourmet Cluster
– 1 Dozen Eggs (any tier)
Target Price: $20
Cost: ~$5
Net Profit: ~$15 per crate
Crate production target: 50/week
Total projected crate profit: $750
Kai leaned back against the water barrel and stared at the field.
This wasn't a garden.
This was a food engine.
That afternoon, he restocked his hens.
Another 24 chicks, bought cheap from a breeder three counties over. Not for breeding, not for fluff — just material.
He ran them through the merge chain that evening.
24 x Lv.1 → 12 x Lv.2 → 6 x Lv.3 → 3 x Lv.4
Merged 2 Lv.4 → 1 x Lv.5 Titan
Remaining:
– 1 Lv.4
– 1 Lv.3 (held for next round)
His chicken numbers now sat at:
Tier
Count
Lv.3
6
Lv.4
5
Lv.5
3
Lv.6 (Apex)
4
Total daily egg yield? Over 70 eggs/day.
That was 490+ per week.
He opened the new system prompt:
Merge Grown Crate Module: Operational
• Auto-Sort Function: Eggs matched by tier
• Lettuce Matched by Merge Batch
• Crate Packaging Available (Merge Paperboard + Biolock Sleeve)
Merge Feature:
– 10 Crates → "Weekly Subscription Box"
Includes:
– 10 Dozen Eggs (mixed tiers)
– 10 Gourmet Clusters
– Merge Grown Cold Pack Liner
– Shelf Life: 12 Days
– Pricing Suggested: $180–$200
Kai merged 10 crates and packed the first official Weekly Subscription Box.
It wasn't fancy. But it looked clean, tight, and sharp.
He delivered it to Joe's Eatery himself.
The chef cracked one egg into a bowl. Then he peeled back a lettuce head and sliced a wedge off the stem. He didn't speak for a while.
Then he handed Kai $200 in cash.
"No questions. Just keep them coming."
Back at the farm, Kai posted a handwritten sign on the gate:
Merge Grown Crates – Now Available
Standard Crate: 1 Dozen Eggs + 1 Gourmet Lettuce = $20
Weekly Subscription (10 Crates) = $180
All natural. All earned.
No additives. No negotiations.
The orders came fast.
By the end of the week, he had 42 crate orders and 6 weekly subscribers.
That put him over $1,200 gross, with costs still under $200.
The system pinged again:
Milestone Reached: Dual Crop-Animal Integration Chain
New Unlock:
Tiered Crate System
– Standard (Lv.3–4)
– Titan (Lv.5–6 eggs, Gourmet Lettuce only)
– Custom (User-selected batch via form)
Crate Reputation Bonus:
– After 10 successful deliveries to one client, unlock "Loyalty Crate"
– Loyalty Crates increase future yield probability by +3% (network effect)
Kai blinked.
"My food has a memory?"
The system wasn't just tracking farm output anymore — it was tracking customer effect loops.
He logged into his spreadsheet and wrote at the top of a new tab:
Merge Grown Core Products (Crate Era)
Product
Price
Net Profit
Weekly Units
Standard Crate
$20
~$15
35–40
Titan Crate
$28
~$20
8–12
Subscription Box
$180
~$140
5–10
He didn't need flashy marketing.
He didn't need stores or apps or delivery services.
All he needed was output, merge, and crates.
Before sunset, Kai walked the field again.
The Super Rows rustled in the wind. His hens clucked in rhythm from the coop. The sun glinted off the Merge Hatch trays resting in the shade.
And all around him?
Control.
No fluff. No fantasy.
Just real food. Real returns.
And he still hadn't even tapped into Tier 7 yet.