Chapter 99: No Longer Hungry, At what cost.
The meal was ready, and everyone gathered as Sunnie was about to dish it out into bowls for them.
She smiled. "I’m sure you’ll all like it. Give it a try," she said.
"Since it’s for the egg, I think we should feed it first," Little Black suggested.
Sunnie nodded to this. "Yeah," she said as she turned and stared at the egg sitting obediently in the corner.
Sunnie was done with the soup and had a whole thirty minutes left before the deadline. Everything was set, and now she realized there was another issue: how the hell do you feed an egg?
[Ding!]
[Baby Raising System Alert!]
[Host needs to feed the egg now.]
[But to do that, the Host needs to find a way to feed the egg.]
[System Sub Task: Find a way to feed the egg and feed it.]
Sunnie blinked. "What the...? Aren’t you supposed to be the one to tell me what to do?" She thought to herself.
She guessed she had no choice. She’d have to figure it out herself now.
"So... how do you feed the egg...?" Little Black stared at Sunnie. Everyone had their eyes on her, wondering the same thing.
Sunnie stared back at them, meeting their eyes. She guessed she was the one they were hoping would know. But she was just as clueless as them.
Sunnie turned her attention to the egg sitting there. She began scanning through her years of modern knowledge, ancient knowledge, all types of knowledge possible, wondering how the hell she could possibly feed this egg.
"Well... about that..." She stood there, running her hands through her chin as she thought. They were all staring at her, waiting for her to say something.
And then it hit her. Sunnie smiled. "I got it!"
Everyone stared in anticipation. "What is it?" Zuna asked.
Sunnie smiled. "Simple. Place the egg in a bowl of soup."
"....."
Everyone hesitated and then blinked through the silence. They were confused for a while, and then Karl asked, "That doesn’t make sense."
Sunnie folded her arms, speaking more confidently. "Well, I guess you’ll just have to see how it makes sense."
Sunnie knew that eggs potentially had tiny, almost invisible holes through which they could absorb liquids, just like the human body. So it made sense to let its body absorb that energy.
With a confident smile, Sunnie got a bigger bowl and put some soup in it. She let the soup warm a bit so it wouldn’t be too hot for the egg.
Then after it had gotten warm enough that a child could enjoy it too, they watched as Sunnie took the egg and gently placed it in the bowl.
Sunnie wasn’t sure if this was going to work, but she hoped it would. It was the only thing she had in mind now. If it failed, it would be over for the egg.
She placed it over the bowl of soup, and they began observing.
Everyone gathered around, watching to see if anything would happen after it was placed in the soup.
At first, nothing happened. They all stood there carefully watching. And soon, something actually did happen.
The egg began moving, vibrating as its sides shifted as though someone inside was pushing against them.
"What’s happening?" Eris asked.
"Do you think it’s cracking?" Luka asked.
"I don’t think so," Azure shook his head.
Sunnie panicked. She couldn’t help but wonder if her soup had done something bad to the egg.
But soon, they noticed that the egg was actually absorbing the soup.
Slowly and slowly, the soup level went down. It was reducing while the egg moved. And soon, the soup was finished. The egg moved some more and then stopped.
Immediately, they all blinked, and Sunnie smiled. "It worked."
[Ding!]
[Congratulations Host! You’ve successfully completed a Baby Raising task!]
[Main task and sub task successfully achieved.]
[You’ve successfully provided the sea soup meal for the egg and also successfully fed the egg.]
[The mer egg is now rich with more Minerals, Protein, Salt, Warmth, Oils/Fat, and all needed for nourishing it.]
[The soup has successfully aided it in developing faster so it will crack sooner.]
[Reward for the soup: + 1,000 heart coins!]
[Host has also successfully discovered how to feed the egg and successfully fed it. Host is getting better at raising her cubs.]
[Reward: + 1,000 heart coins!]
Sunnie let out a sigh of relief as she watched the system notification. At least she was done with that, and within the stipulated time as well.
"Interesting. I guess that’s how it feeds," Eris observed as Azure nodded.
The egg moved some more, vigorously moving around the bowl as the system informed Sunnie.
[Ding!]
[Egg wants to have more soup.]
Sunnie couldn’t deny it. So she poured in some more for the egg, and it happily absorbed it all. When it was done, it requested more and more, and Sunnie found herself refilling its bowl until the soup they had was finished.
And then the egg was calm.
[Ding!]
[The Egg is satisfied! Now the egg has successfully slept off!]
[Congratulations Host for putting the Egg to sleep.]
[Reward: + 1,000 heart coins!]
Sunnie blinked as she watched the egg stay calm, clearly drifting off to sleep.
Everyone sat there, watching the egg sleep after consuming everything they had.
Sunnie stared at the pot in the distance and then stared at the egg.
Little Black’s stomach groaned amidst the silence as he asked, "Is there any left in the pot, though?"
Sunnie slowly shook her head. "No... nothing... everything was given to the egg."
"So... we don’t have food for tonight...?" Luka asked, his stomach also groaning.
Sunnie slowly nodded. "I guess that’s the case..." She sighed. "The egg took it all."
Eris sighed. "Well, look on the bright side: at least we’re going to sleep well tonight without it disturbing us by randomly running out of the cave and around late at night," he said hopefully.