Zeke left the Heldrake Egg to hatch on its own.
As he stepped out of his matchbox hut, he spotted Cow under a tree. It was facing the trunk, its backside turned towards Zeke.
"Haven't seen you in a few days, and you've gotten fatter, Cow," Zeke said as he walked over and gave Cow's flank a pinch.
The fat on Cow's body jiggled. It shot Zeke a side-eye, snorted, and turned its head away.
Having a tantrum, are we? Zeke reviewed his recent actions but couldn't think of anything he had done to mistreat Cow.
I got it, Zeke thought, looking at Cow. It must be puberty. It's rebelling. I recall Trazyn having one of your kind in his gallery. Next time, I'll ask if it's male or female and find you a partner.
Regardless of whether Cow was listening, Zeke patted its head.
His gaze fell upon a black collar around Cow's neck.
Lifting Cow's head, Zeke felt the collar; it was a tracker.
Zeke asked a passing soldier and learned that Bela had put it on Cow to prevent it from getting lost or taken by someone with ill intentions.
Zeke looked towards Bela, who was outside his tent. He had been managing Zeke's farm quite well; everything looked proper and orderly.
It's been a while since I freeloaded some good food. Feeling extra sneaky, Zeke headed towards Bela's tent.
Bela was holding a tray filled with many round objects.
"You left in such a hurry earlier; there's still a jar of honey here."
Bela tilted his head to the side, signaling for Zeke to take the jar of honey on the table.
Zeke picked it up. Four bottles of honey could craft a Honey Block, which was useful for some Redstone contraptions. (TL/N: A redstone circuit is a contraption that activates or controls mechanisms. Circuits can act in response to player or entity/mob activation, continuously on a loop, or in response to non-player activity (mob movement, item drops, plant growth, etc)
"What do you have there?" Zeke picked one up from the tray. His system displayed it as an Egg, throwable.
"Artificial eggs, made through technology mimicking the real thing." Bela set a stack of eggs aside.
Chickens, as a poultry species, were confirmed extinct in the Warhammer universe. This stack of Bela's was entirely made of 'tech and hard work'—simulation eggs.
Zeke took an egg and smashed it against the ground. White shell particles splashed out with a splat.
Scientifically speaking, artificial eggs are definitely not fertilized and cannot hatch chicks.
However, under Minecraft rules, Zeke remembered that every thrown egg had a 1/8 chance of spawning a baby chicken.
Zeke took three more eggs and threw them at the ground.
Crack, crack, crack. All three broke, but still no chick. Zeke reached out and grabbed the entire stack.
"What are you doing?" Bela stopped Zeke's hand.
"These eggs aren't cheap. They're high-end goods that mimic 75% of the flavor of real eggs. If you want to eat them, I can give them to you, but throwing them away is just wasteful."
Bela looked at Zeke's behavior, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Zeke looked at the baskets of potatoes and wheat Bela had harvested nearby. "What are you afraid of? Don't we have plenty of vegetables?"
"It's not the same." Bela stopped trying to block Zeke.
"Meat is scarce in the camp; protein is hard to replenish."
In Warhammer, raising livestock for meat was costly. Let alone eating meat daily, even an occasional meal was unaffordable for ordinary people.
Zeke swept the entire stack of eggs into his inventory—18 in total. Holding them, he started throwing them everywhere.
He listened to the sound of eggs shattering all around.
Is it really a 1/8 probability? Zeke looked at the last egg in his hand. My luck is terrible.
Bela watched Zeke waste a whole box of eggs and closed his eyes in despair.
Maybe it's my form. Zeke mimicked a basketball shot and tossed the last egg high into the air, landing it on the tent roof.
This time, the cracking sound was different—more muffled.
Plop!
A small, fluffy, milky-white thing fell from the roof along with the shattered shell.
It flapped its tiny wings in mid-air, slowing its descent, and landed in front of Zeke.
It shook its little head, revealing a pair of beady eyes.
"Cluck, cluck, cluck?"
The wheat seeds in a nearby basket caught the chick's attention. It flapped its wings and ran toward them.
The Chicken. As the most successful direct descendant of the dinosaurs, this species had survived countless eras with its amazing adaptability, yet it had failed to survive the dark age of Warhammer. (TL/N: This is true btw XD)
But at this moment, in a completely baffling manner, it had reappeared on this continent.
The legacy of life had begun anew.
This chick didn't yet realize it carried the glory of reviving its race; it just flapped its wings desperately, trying to reach the wheat seeds in the basket.
"Wha... what is this?" Bela, a man of this era, had naturally never seen such livestock.
As someone with a basic education, he understood the concept of oviparous animals.
But these were artificial eggs. How could they hatch anything? His worldview suffered a simple, brutal shock.
One is here. As long as we get another, we can breed them. Zeke thought.
"Got any more?" Zeke looked at Bela.
Bela didn't hide them; he took out the last stack of eggs from a hidden lower shelf.
"The meat of this creature is an excellent source of protein." Zeke pointed at the white chick still struggling with the wheat seeds.
"Meat? Is it tasty?" Bela, the chef, was intrigued. "Is it as good as Grox meat?"
Look at your lack of experience, Zeke mocked Bela mercilessly in his mind. How do you think chicken meat secured the throne of all meats in the M2 era? Aside from breeding fast, what's the most important thing? It's delicious, versatile, and smells good no matter how you cook it. Fried, deep-fried, stewed, poached, salt-baked, roasted, braised. What is Grox meat? Roadside trash compared to chicken.
He threw the entire stack of eggs. This time, luck was on his side—four baby chickens popped out.
He fed them wheat seeds one by one. Each feeding reduced the growth time of the baby chickens by 10%.
Zeke and Bela watched over the little guys in the tent, waiting quietly for them to grow up.
Half an hour later, the little ones transformed from juvenile forms into adults.
Zeke used wheat to breed them in pairs, turning 4 chickens into 6.
Such rapid growth. Bela watched the noisy creatures flying up and down inside the tent. He reached out, grabbed one, and felt its chest.
Bela weighed it in his hand, estimating the meat yield.
Simple to raise, short growth cycle, and judging by Zeke's tone, the taste wasn't bad either.
They were practically livestock designed specifically to provide meat.
Bela realized the value of chickens. If this livestock were popularized, it would absolutely be loved by everyone.
"I choose you!" Zeke slapped his thigh. "Bela, I'm handing that chicken in your hand over to you to cook. Let's see just how delicious this thing is."
"Leave it to me... but I don't know how to process this creature?"
Zeke looked around. There was wheat flour, there was oil—all the ingredients were ready.
"I'll teach you." Zeke rolled up his sleeves, standing by to guide Bela.