Okay, we've decided on the target amount. Now, how to legalize the ores from my future miracle box. After quickly looking at the prices of precious metals, I settled on gold and platinum (approximately $38,000 and $32,000 per kilogram). I think there will be some of that in the box. What options do I have for selling it? In fact, there's only one working option at the moment: pawnshops. Up to an amount of about $10,000, they usually don't require documents or detailed proof of origin. The problem is that they won't be very enthusiastic about accepting pure, unprocessed ore, and will most likely undervalue it significantly. This means that I'll have to go to a smelter beforehand (due to the lack of my own workshop) and melt it into ingots or granules for a couple of hundred bucks. Then I can push them to pawnshops all over the city.
Risky? Definitely. What other options are there? Online auctions, selling to private collectors or metal dealers, trying to reach out directly to industrialists and offer them something from rare earth elements. But each of these paths is even riskier at the start than going through pawnshops: a higher entry threshold, more paperwork and attentive eyes. So, for now, I'm sticking with pawnshops—and in the plural, with payment in cash. Basic precautions are mandatory: going to different locations on different days at different times, changing clothes and routes, not creating a recurring pattern. I'm not a superspy, but I want to believe I'm not a complete idiot. Although… I've already left a trail with the Ghost Orchid—so I am an idiot. Okay, let's move on without self-flagellation, just be more careful.
Now that the primary task of analyzing the most important things has been resolved, another kind of analysis was on the agenda. A deep, thorough analysis of the ass I've been dragged into. In theory, any right-minded transmigrator should have taken care of this in the first few hours. But, alas, the system turned out to be too exciting a toy, and the first days were spent in a tactical race for resources rather than in strategic planning. Now that not just survival but future development is at stake, ignoring this issue would be tantamount to suicide.
So, let's start with the card index in my head. Key characters, factions, events. From what I know and remember, of course.
Global Level: Gods and Monsters. The top of the food chain of Earth, and New York in particular. Tony Stark, aka Iron Man; Steve Rogers, aka Captain America; Bruce Banner, aka the indestructible, super-strong green mountain of rage, aka the Hulk; Thor, aka Asgardian and true God of Thunder and Lightning. And the rest of the Avengers in descending order of their importance to the global plot. These are titans whose collision is capable of wiping the city off the map. Right now, they're disjointed, and some are even nonexistent figures, but I know that their unification is only a matter of time and the right threat.
Level of Ideologues: Mutants. Two main, ever-opposing forces. Magneto with his idea of mutant supremacy and Professor X with his dream of peaceful coexistence. The Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, judging by the fragmented information online, exists successfully but masquerades as an elite private educational institution. The very fact that mutants are hidden from the public is alarming. This is not a world where they are part of society; this is a world where they are a ticking bomb. There is no mention of Magneto, which is even worse. This means that he is either lying low or has not yet started his war. There is, of course, a tiny chance that he does not exist at all in this reality, but in any case, getting into their squabbles is madness.
Level of the Streets: Heroes and Spiders. My current world, what's happening outside the window. Spider-Woman—and in my case, Gwen-Spider for convenience and ego-stroking. She is already active, but a quick analysis of the news confirmed: so far it's a fight against ordinary crime. However, her personal gallery of enemies is a classic of the Spider-Verse: Kingpin, who runs the criminal world; Lizard—and here I get the shivers, because in most realities with Gwen-Spider, Peter Parker performs this performance; Morlun, an energy vampire who hunts spider totems; Jackal, Kraven the Hunter, Vulture, Doctor Octopus, Goblin, and of course Venom. Since Otto Octavius is giving a presentation of his manipulators on October 14, in just a month, I suspect that he will be her first serious opponent. And this event will be the starting point for the appearance of a whole cohort of meta-criminals in New York.
But Gwen is not the only one at this level. Hell's Kitchen, my neighborhood… is the territory of the Devil. Daredevil. Blind lawyer Matt Murdock by day, vigilante by night. His war with the Kingpin and the Japanese ninja clan The Hand is the shadow side of the city, invisible to ordinary people. To some extent, I live in the epicenter of this war against my will. Another impetus to leave this area.
Level of Science and Space: Pioneers. The Fantastic Four. Their space expedition starts on September 22, in just a few days. How long they will be in orbit is unknown, but their return will be a sensation. And along with them, two threats of completely different scales will come into the world. The first is Victor von Doom. Genius, billionaire, King of Latveria, powerful magician—his version and level of threat can be any, but he will always be one of the most dangerous people on the planet. The second threat… is absolute. Galactus, Devourer of Worlds. He and his herald, the Silver Surfer, are somehow closely connected to the Fantastic Four. And if the arrival of Doctor Doom is a political and technological crisis, then Galactus' arrival is the end of the world. And I have no idea what I can do against it, or whether it's even worth trying.
Point of reference: Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist. Of course, Tony Stark. It is with his arc of becoming Iron Man, in theory, that the whole saga with the Avengers, the Chitauri invasion, and the mad titans who like to snap their fingers should begin. When will he fly to Afghanistan? Unknown. There is no mention of Jericho missiles anywhere online. It could be a top-secret project. But monitoring news related to Stark Industries is my highest priority. His kidnapping will be the gong that heralds the beginning of a new era.
Hidden Forces: Shadows and Conspiracies.S.H.I.E.L.D. with Nick Fury and Hydra, which has metastasized into its structure. They are the gray eminences waging their war. Magic. Doctor Stephen Strange—a brilliant neurosurgeon—is still saving lives in the operating room, and his hands are fine. His upcoming car accident will be a portal into a world where the laws of physics are just a suggestion, plus he plays an important role in global events and has apparently even saved the world a couple of times. He needs to be monitored too. The Ancient One is training acolytes somewhere in Kamar-Taj.
And all this is just the tip of the iceberg. Blade and the vampire clans waging their millennia-old war in the night. Captain Marvel and the eternal conflict between the Kree and Skrulls somewhere in the depths of space. The Celestials, who created life. The Guardians of the Galaxy. Shang-Chi, the Ten Rings, and the mystical forces of K'un-Lun. The Hellfire Club, a secret society of the richest and most influential people. And dozens of other hidden organizations, ancient cults, and alien races.
This world is a crazy, multi-layered pie of threats. Trying to grasp everything means going crazy. I don't need to know everything. I need to know enough to survive and become stronger. All I want for now is to be given time to ramp up. My strength lies in constant, albeit relatively slow, amplification. But that's for now. My progression is not arithmetic, but geometric. And who knows what skill, blueprint, or Legendary-level item will finally allow me to step out of the shadows and become a figure on this crazy chessboard myself. Until then—silence, development, and information gathering.
Closing the incognito browser with secure tunnel encryption, I leaned back in my chair, exhaling all the accumulated stress and fatigue from a job well done mentally. The effect of the Intellect Potion wore off, and I suddenly felt dull and heavy, as after a sleepless night. But looking at the notes I had been keeping for the last few hours, recording the most important and useful thoughts, I realized that things were not so bad. Pseudo-NZT-48 had done its job: I got answers to the questions that tormented me and simplified my immediate decisions. And even despite the approaching headache—a small rollback from the effects of the Potion—I'm ready to start creating and earning OP. I desperately need this miracle box with ores; too much depends on it now.
Slapping myself on the cheeks and pulling myself together, I opened a regular browser—on the tab with the step-by-step process of creating a PVC Crossbow. I'll wait out the headache for half an hour or an hour: during this time, I can just go to the hardware store and buy what's missing for the Crossbow and Water Gun—cord, a couple of fittings, glue, small fasteners, and so on. I'll come back and start farming. Today I'm closing 165 OP. And tomorrow I'll start making money. Then—everything else, according to the plan and on the rise.