The next day was spent getting his license and a vehicle squared away. Passing the test was easy enough with the experience from his original life. He did travel a lot and used to have a license in several countries after all.
All with different names though. So that would have to be reacquired for habit's sake.
The main vehicle would take a day to get ready so, Luigi was driving him around in a secondary car. Checking out the stores that were purchased and heading to the airport to fly towards North Carolina for the Gem Mines.
Besides sparring and going over the business a little, the evening was uneventful. With a few messages exchanged with the friends back home of the original Rexford and an angry message from the mother that he barely responded to her liking.
"Foolish and annoying." Hanging up, Rexford turned to Luigi. "So, you don't have any hobbies do you?"
"No, never had the time. I should probably get some considering how much time I have gained lately. Learning and remembering is was easier than before." Luigi gave a smile watching Rexford pull out a book on Engineering. "Weren't you reading medical books in the car earlier?"
"Yeah, but I finished those and won't need to review them until later. Besides, still have eight weeks left before the semester starts. If I don't pass that test I will just switch over to all classes online to keep from messing with day-to-day activity." Rexford refused to waste the chance to increase his intelligence before heading back to his Earth. Hopefully, it will stay with. "The rate I am learning is increasing along with my cultivation."
"Hmm, then let me read that book when you are done. I have an interest in building stuff." Luigi gave a smile seeing the other agree. A stewardess came up so he stopped to get a drink. "Excuse me.."
As Rexford read intently, he felt the stirring inside of the Black Gold Vortex once more. His eyes continued to read as he looked inward so to speak.
'Woah.. that is really big!' The Black Gold Vortex had grown to massive proportions. The height it was from the grass he stood on had increased but it was nothing really considering its size. 'At least it does not have some type of gravity based effect on me. Then again.. I am like a piece of soul or something of another in here.'
Staring up above, his eyes started to synch with the pulses of the Vortex. Spinning inside his sockets which hurt like hell! The nerves attached were torn as his eyeballs spun at the same frequency.
On the outside, Rexford closed his eyes and feigned fatigue. Setting the book facedown while trying to mitigate the pain and figure out what is going on.
The Pre-Protostar was growing and required his attention. The kinetic energy that was produced by the plane had been absorbed since they took flight, as well as the sunlight that filtered in from the windows.
The flight was only an hour and a half, and before he could make heads or tales of it, it was time to disembark. Luckily his retinas reattached easily enough with the Black Gold Vortex no longer pulling his attention.
"Well, hopefully, the Gem Mines are not an issue." Getting the single carry on, he disembarked with Luigi following with. A slight stop at the Gate, however. 'Well, guess he was looking for companionship or something.'
Luigi was chatting with a stewardess and got her phone number. The bright smile the woman gave him was definitely dazzling.
"Hehe, the rental car should be across the street. Nothing major but good to drive in the mountains."
"Sounds good." Rexford started walking out of the terminal not prying into the business with the stewardess. Luigi's shit-eating grin was quite envious to look at. "I think I will drive this time, a chance to get a feel for the road."
The Jeep didn't take long to find with the duo driving out immediately. Luigi switched to reading while Rexford took in the sights. It had been a while since he visited North Carolina and this North Carolina had a few differences.
'My.. eyes are different. I can see streams of Qi/Mana in the air. Not to mention an increase in my vision by just focusing on spots I see further ahead. In fact, it is like dropping a pin drop on an area and looking around that drop completely. 'Not the best time to look further into this while driving. Just focus on the roads and take in the loose Qi/Mana available.'
It took about 30 minutes to make it to the first Gem Site. An abandoned mine that only cost about 30,000 to acquire fully. The survey work had just finished with Luigi going over to deal with that part himself.
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'Ok, time to take care of business.' Walking around carrying a bag with water inside, the object was to surveil the entire area while using his body to improve his cultivation as well. 'Let's push these eyes and follow the flow.'
Large waves of Qi/Mana lead to the solid closed off cave structures. Checking to make sure no one was nearby, he punched the wall with his bare hands. Using the power of Body Tempering fully.
*Boom!* Each punch was the same as a bomb going off. Luckily his body was tempered all over or he would have serious injuries. Luckily the backpack was protected by his body.
Rexford continued to punch and dig out the side of the cave. Following the path his eyes pulled to closely. The debris of broken pieces was swallowed into the Black Gold Vortex to help push it higher and by extension himself right now.
Really small fragments of gems were swallowed up with the hardened rock and various minerals. The various clouds that swallowed the Black Gold Vortex increased in volume and coverage.
'I can feel the Black Gold Sun Art getting better. An increase in the Qi Condensation stage but just better understanding in the Body Tempering stage, not bad!' Finding some really thick wall space but a large pull to his eyes, he reared back circulating his strength. "Humph!"
*Boom! Boom!* The two-hit punch sounded like cannon fire in quick succession. The dust sucked into Rexford's pores as he looked at the discovery.
It was a slate of Sandstone in its rawest form. Large sections broke off from the sides that he swept away into his Internal Space for keeping. At least 1/3 was kept with the rest being used as material to refine.
A drop of Rich Qi dropped within, he used that to push the Qi Condensation to the next rank in one swoop and recover his spent stamina.
Hours later, Rexford headed outside at a full sprint. His skin burned as he pushed through for his body. Stepping into the Elemental Body Stage he could feel the very Earth pules around him. Small traces of dirt followed behind in a trail.
On closer inspection, if one looked, the dirt produced light in the form of heat. It also had microscopic gravitational effects.
"Haaaa" Exhaling deeply, he was happy to catch the sunset. "..that was fun. So what have you been up to?" He said toward Luigi who was not alone having a small dinner with the stewardess.
"Nothing much boss, this is Cheryl." The stewardess nodded and waved friendly enough. "I know you are looking to hire some people and since we stay out of state it would be good to get someone to watch over places that were recently acquired."
Rexford planned on completely vacating this entire mine out. Then building a few cultivation structures in the inside. Which would more or less be an underground base with the way the cave tunnels travel.
"Sure, maybe turn the topside into an apartment area for workers."
The next day was spent getting to know people in the area with the help of Luigi and Cheryl.
Cassandra joined at the end lunch period, having flown over via private jet with a few Arcane Masters. Wanting to practice some closed-door Battlemage martial arts. In the end, Rexford was given the title of Master for Sarvadevamandir. A no-name Arcane Battle Martial Art that the community recognized.
Rexford kept his promise of not crippling a single person. But that didn't stop Luigi from breaking an arrogant young man's windpipe. It almost turned into a full-on brawl with just Luigi and Rexford versus an entire Arcane School of 40.
But with a simple shout from Cassandra and her overall status, they piped down real quick. None of them wanted to pick a fight with the young heiress. Especially with her stepping into her higher stages recently. With small attainments in that of the Elemental Body to give an air of mysteriousness to her.
Cheryl was most impressed with Luigi and by the sounds of their fun while heading towards their room it would turn into something most pleasant. Rexford had bad digestion as he messed with the benefits that came with the Elemental Body Stage.
The Black Gold Sun Tattoo on his back took in energy so fast his daily increase of water would be monstrous. Having dealt with those changes he was ready to go deeper into the Gem Mine. However, something was blocking the entrance.
Close to that of man but as big as an ape in appearance. So much hair and a defined brow line that made a caveman look refined. For a split second, he thought of Sasquatch!
"What in the 9 Hells are you?" He made a note to increase his detection ability and get a move on the sensors.
"Oh oh ohhhh!" Turning the creature looked at him before howling. It reached to pick up rocks to fling but none were available, after all, Rexford took all loose fragments in for the most part. It decided to charge at the trespasser instead. "OOOhhh!"
"This is silly!" Rexford dodged on extinct as the creature somehow offended him. It was a good thing considering it had the strength of 10 men. "Nope!" Jumping back further the Champion took out the gun he swiped before.
A few shots at the skin did nothing besides eliminate that it was tougher than a normal person.
"Ohhh!" With a holler it charged at Rexford once more, ignoring the stinging caused by the shots.
"Thanks!" Smiling Rexzford shot it dead in the eyes. Like most creatures, the eyes were just to vulnerable and this beast was not fast enough to shield itself before a hit. "Go down already!"
Not wanting to risk anything, Rexford continued to dodge and wear it down. The others came quickly upon hearing the gunshots. By the looks of their faces, no one knew what the hell it was either.
Ganging up worked on it as they lured and baited into attacking the mine walls interior. Plus free mining was gained out of it.
After some time, the blood loss got to the beast and it dropped down. Rexford approached carefully and placed the handgun directly into the eye socket. Unloading a fresh load into its cranium finally stopped any breathing signs.
"This can not be bigfoot...." Luigi looked at Rexford who flipped the hulking beast over. "..can it?"
"I hope not, if so... I might lose the Gem Mine among other things." Checking it intently, a lot of the features were close to humans but it had an extra set of nipples and additional toes. "Let's put it in a tent and dissect it first."
As the dead creature was taken into one of the tents, a truck was heading down the path to talk to the new owner of the Gem Mine. How they found out about it, Rexford had no idea.