The truck bed rattled from the crates packed into it — thirty-five new pullets, thin and scrappy, chirping like they'd just been pulled out of a whirlwind. Kai slammed the tailgate shut and lit the headlamp on his forehead.
It was barely 6:00 a.m.
Still dark.
Didn't matter.
Today was a scale day.
"One hundred chickens," he muttered. "Let's see what happens when the system has to keep up with me."
The sun rose as Kai guided the last crate into the East Yard — a flattened zone cleared two weeks prior. He'd already dug post holes, laid recycled floor mesh, and framed up a new building with metal from a salvaged greenhouse.
By noon, the shell of Super Layer Hall II was complete.
Inside, 12 nesting bays. Auto-feeders. Passive airflow. Overhead shade cloths.
He pulled up the tablet.
Merge Available:
2 x Industrial Coop = 1 x Super Layer Hall
New Feature: Tier-Aware Nest Sorting
– Routes Apex + Titan Layers to optimized positions
– Auto-adjusts ambient heat for seasonal shifts
– Projected Max Capacity: 36 Layers
Merge? → YES
The screen flashed.
Boards bent. Sheet metal hissed and sealed. Light filtered through newly formed ceiling vents.
Kai walked inside, hands in pockets.
Cool.
Still.
Efficient.
By 4 p.m., all new pullets were scanned and merged.
Merge Queue: 35 Lv.1 →
– 17 Lv.2 → 8 Lv.3 → 4 Lv.4 → 2 Lv.5 → 1 Lv.6 Apex Layer
Remaining:
– 1 Lv.2
– 1 Lv.1
New Totals:
– Lv.3: 5
– Lv.4: 6
– Lv.5: 4
– Lv.6 (Apex): 5
Five Apex Layers now operated across two Super Halls.
Egg output skyrocketed.
Daily Average: ~87 eggs
Weekly: ~609
Average price per egg: $1.30
Weekly Gross: ~$790 (eggs only)
Kai leaned against the coop door and watched the Apex walk the fresh shavings. Her feathers caught the last light like oil on water — dark, reflective, and strange.
He swiped the tablet.
Milestone Achieved: 100-Bird Threshold
New System Effect Activated:
– Flock Sync
Result:
• All hens of same tier adjust output within 5% of each other
• Stress Reduction: +25%
• Aura Amplification: +10% (Apex Only)
Bonus: Unlock "Egg Pulse Scheduling"
– Syncs laying times to simplify collection windows
– Boosts egg freshness rate by +22% if collected within 2 hrs
Kai blinked.
He activated Egg Pulse immediately.
From now on, hens would lay within a 3-hour window at dawn, allowing tight crate packaging and same-day cold locking.
Meanwhile, the Super Rows of lettuce were thick with growth. The outer leaves shimmered from nutrient retention — each row thick with water and energy.
He tapped into the Crop Merge Panel.
Super Row Merge Available:
2 x Super Row = 1 x Titan Bed
Result:
• Yield: +150% per square foot
• Harvest Cycle: -5 days
• Leaf Density: +40%
• Nutrient Stacking: Active
Trait Unlock: Vital Skin – Consuming increases skin elasticity and cellular repair rate
Kai merged four Super Rows into two Titan Beds.
The soil pulsed gold for just a second, then reset. Each Titan Bed now held plants that looked bionic — tougher stems, tighter leaf bunches, deeper greens with hints of copper at the edge.
Back at the packing shed, Kai pulled up his crate log.
Crate Type
Units This Week
Price
Revenue
Standard
31
$20
$620
Titan Crate
14
$28
$392
Custom Crate
7
$30–36
~$240
Weekly Sub Box
5
$180
$900
Weekly Total: ~$2,150
Feed, water, seed cost: $260
Net: **$1,890**
The most profitable week he'd ever pulled.
And he wasn't even pushing capacity yet.
The system chimed again:
Customer Feedback Threshold Reached
Trait Loop Unlocked:
– Merge Grown Crate Impact: "Resonance Cycle"
Description:
• When the same customer eats 10+ crates over time, their reported wellness data feeds into system
• Crates delivered to those customers gain a +3% effectiveness
• Long-term health impact: Trackable
Option to label crates as "Personal Batch"?
→ Yes / No
Kai hit YES.
Every crate from now on would carry a code tied to its most loyal buyers.
Merge Grown was no longer a product.
It was a loop.
A bio-feedback economy.
That night, Kai stood under the stars, arms crossed, sweat still on his neck.
He'd started with busted hens and wilted lettuce.
Now? He ran a 100-chicken tiered system, ten Titan Beds of high-function lettuce, and a delivery network of over 50 buyers on rolling orders.
All with no loans.
No partnerships.
No advertising.
Just merge and grind.
And deep in the Merge System, a single lock began to flicker:
Tier 7 Path: Legacy Protocol – Status: 92% Unlocked…