[Chunk of Raw Earth Lead Ore (galena). Weight 1.4 kg. Metal Content 89%. Rarity: Common. Condition: 10/10]
Aha, lead. With almost 90 percent pure metal content! This isn't just ore, it's almost a finished product. I mentally bowed to the unknown creators of the box. Curiosity spurred me on. What else do we have here? I pulled out a reddish-brown stone.
[Chunk of Raw Earth Iron Ore (hematite). Weight 1.7 kg. Metal Content 82%. Rarity: Common. Condition: 10/10]
It became clear that a full audit was necessary. But sorting through hundreds of kilograms of ore right on the dirty floor was not an option. I desperately needed containers for sorting. This meant going back out into the city and spending my already meager money. But looking at this treasure, I knew it would be a sin to complain.
Hiding the box back in my Inventory, I left my temporary refuge. At the nearest hardware store, I bought a set of ten large cardboard moving boxes. Another ten bucks gone. The boxes were flimsy, but their physical properties didn't matter for the Inventory. The main thing was that they were containers.
Returning to the same secluded room, I laid out ten boxes on the floor, creating a semblance of a sorting center. Summoning the Cheat Box again, I began a monotonous but incredibly exciting marathon of treasure assessment.
I picked up each piece of ore, sent it to the Inventory for a moment for scanning, and, having received the information, transferred it to the appropriate box. First came the industrial metals.
[Chunk of Raw Earth Copper Ore (chalcopyrite). Weight 1.2 kg. Metal Content 84%...]
[Chunk of Raw Earth Tin Ore (cassiterite). Weight 2.1 kg. Metal Content 80%...]
[Chunk of Raw Earth Aluminum Ore (bauxite). Weight 1.3 kg. Metal Content 82%...]
Gradually, the boxes filled up. But the real excitement began when I stumbled upon the first precious metal.
[Chunk of Raw Earth Silver Ore (argentite). Weight 1.1 kg. Metal Content 86%...]
My heart skipped a beat. And then more followed.
[Chunk of Raw Earth Gold Ore (nugget). Weight 0.7 kg. Metal Content 88%...]
[Chunk of Raw Earth Platinum Ore. Weight 0.4 kg. Metal Content 82%...]
[Chunk of Raw Earth Palladium Ore. Weight 0.5 kg. Metal Content 87%...]
[Chunk of Raw Earth Titanium Ore (ilmenite). Weight 1.0 kg. Metal Content 89%...]
When the first wave of audits was over, I stood before ten boxes, each labeled with its own metal. Only ten representatives of ordinary, "Earth" ores. Pretty... little, if you think about it. Where, for example, is nickel for alloys? Or refractory tungsten for serious tools? But it was foolish to complain. Gold, platinum, palladium—these are not just crafting materials, they are my financial independence. Especially with such an incredible content of pure metal!
I already thought that the surprises were over, but, rummaging through the remains of the ore at the bottom of the box, I came across something else. There, among the ordinary stones, lay three pieces of ore that looked... wrong. One shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow, the other was coal-black but absorbed light, and the third glowed faintly in the dimness of the room. My Inventory confirmed my guess; this was something completely different. The little box had saved the rarest and most exotic options for dessert. And each of them, even by System standards, was of enormous value.
The first of the three unusual pieces of ore shimmered in the light with all the colors of the rainbow. I picked it up, feeling a strange, subtle vibration, and sent it to the Inventory for scanning.
[Chunk of Raw Vibranium Ore. Weight 0.3 kg. Metal Content 96%. Rarity: Rare. Condition: 10/10]
I gasped. Vibranium. The metal from which Captain America's shield, Black Panther's suit, the Winter Soldier's prosthetic arm, and God knows what else are made. The foundation of the technologies of an entire secretive, high-tech nation. I swallowed, carefully setting it aside as if it were not ore, but a sleeping grenade.
The second piece was coal black, but so dense that it seemed to absorb light itself. It was deceptively heavy for its size.
[Chunk of Raw Adamantium Ore. Weight 0.4 kg. Metal Content 93%. Rarity: Rare. Condition: 10/10]
Adamantium. The metal that covers Wolverine's skeleton. A symbol of absolute, unthinkable strength. Cold sweat broke out all over me. Having two of these metals in your hands at the same time isn't just luck; it's some kind of mockery of fate.
And the third... the third piece glowed dimly in the twilight of the room with its own unearthly light, as if a coal brought from the forge of the gods smoldered inside it.
[Piece of raw Uru Ore. Weight 0.5 kg. Metal content 98%. Rarity: Rare. Condition: 10/10]
Vibranium, Adamantium, and freaking Uru, the metal of the Gods. At that moment, I almost laughed from hysterical horror and delight. I didn't even know what to do with these Treasures yet. But what I did know for sure was that for each of these seemingly unremarkable stones, people in this world are ready to not just kill. No... They are ready to tear your soul from the afterlife so you can tell them where you hid more. Flaunting such valuables was equivalent to hanging a neon sign around your neck that says, "Kill me and become one of the most powerful beings on the planet."
Having collected every last piece of these three ores, I put them in a separate cardboard box, mentally noting their total weight, and immediately sent this box to my Inventory. Let them not provoke reality.
Now that the most valuable things were safe, I needed to conduct a full inventory. The next two hours turned into monotonous but vitally important work. The room was filled with the dull thud of stones, the rustle of dust, and my labored breathing. It was the job of a loader, an accountant, and an appraiser all rolled into one. I dragged hundreds of kilograms of ore from the Miracle Box onto the floor, weighed each batch, sent it to the Inventory to add up the weight, and sorted it into boxes. When the dust settled, a complete picture of my newfound fortune appeared before my mind's eye:
Iron Ore: ~700 kg
Lead Ore: ~500 kg
Copper Ore: ~250 kg
Tin Ore: ~200 kg
Aluminum Ore: ~150 kg
Titanium Ore: ~80 kg
Silver Ore: ~60 kg
Gold Ore: ~12 kg
Platinum Ore: ~10 kg
Palladium Ore: ~6 kg
Vibranium: ~2 kg
Adamantium: ~1.8 kg
Uru: 0.5 kg
About two tons of ore, of which two hundred kilograms are impurities. Not bad. The System didn't lie: the more valuable the ore, the less of it there is. The hierarchy was obvious.
The plan in my head formed by itself, clear and inevitable. Step one: Isolation. Gold, platinum, and palladium, the most valuable metals from a monetary point of view, must be separated from the industrial ones. Step two: Optimization. All this main backbone—iron, lead, etc.—needs to be moved to a separate large container in the Inventory so that the Miracle Box remains empty and automatically fills up with new ores in a month. Step three: Constant development. Return home before the streets are completely plunged into darkness, and try to craft something to earn an extra penny of OP; even despite the hassle and tasks, I must earn a minimum of 50 OP per day. Step four: Legalization. Think over tomorrow's route to pawnshops, not forgetting about melting down the gold I get. I'll have to do a little comparative price analysis, but I don't even need to waste a Potion of Intellect for that.
Mentally agreeing with this sequence, I put the boxes and the box with ores into the Inventory, folded the remaining empty boxes, took them with me, and headed home. Twilight was already thickening over Hell's Kitchen, and nightlife was beginning to crawl out of the dark alleys.
Tomorrow is Monday, and it won't just be another tough day. This will be the first day of my new life. The day I stop being a poor orphan from Hell's Kitchen clinging to survival. Tomorrow, I will start building my own kind of financial empire, even if it's just my personal one for now.