Both he and the Captain stood in touch via email and phone calls in regards to the Police Project itself. From making sure the Foundation that was getting set up reached all the correct criteria and no issues formed.
Rexford spent most of the week since that cleaning up the neighboring alleys near that police station and various others of spirits. He broke into the Qi Condensation VIII stage and the Elemental Body III stage from all of it. Not to mention increasing the number of spirits under him to the triple digits.
Now Rexford looked through the want ads and all the different people looking for work. Having taken his tests and still waiting on some results weighed on his mind a little. As well as taking the Insurance tests last minute. But it would take about 30 days to get all the results for each of them.
But he would carry more certifications and supporting documents that made his previous life accomplishments pale in comparison. Well in just what he was accredited with anyway. His thirst for knowledge had only increased to make his plans better every day.
'I need to hire someone to look at the small stuff in case I overlook it. This former Manager of a Metallurgy Store is better than nothing. Send him an offer and see if he is desperate enough to come work for me under my outlined terms.' The Spirit that was currently possessing him left to get the plan underway. 'If not for taking in so much evil spirit energy and finding my thoughts turning darker this early I might have really missed it.'
Thankfully a Spirit possessing him could help him refine the energy to reduce the effects without it turning evil again from it. That and more exercise helped speed up the refining process for some reason.
Going to work out, the Wolf spirit lounged around the pool area with a few other spirits. The first 50 had more rights than his other ones and also were in charge of teaching the newcomers that arrived what time period they were in and the rules. That and they were all to become police officers once Rexford found the correct method to make sure it was permanent for possession.
It was easy to type and read while running on the treadmill due to it's output. The very feedback from his lungs felt exhilarating especially since he would be doing it for hours at a high speed.
The Body Tempering was the best thing that happened to him stamina-wise before. Muscles stronger than steel and skin stronger than the fire of a pistol point blank. The Qi Condensation stage was okay and all but he didn't care for the more glamor feeling it gave and used it as a further tempering stage really.
The bones and flesh will be strengthened to the limit with martial arts and combat styles, allowing the body to reach unbelievable heights beyond normal humans even when he runs out of Blood Qi, Regular Qi, or the impossible of running out of Mana itself.
After tempering the body, the next step is to open the meridians within the body and connect them over and over before he breaks through the next realm for Qi. Which was the Foundation Establishment Realm.
With all the meridians connected, the qi of the heaven and earth can circulate through them and strengthen the body even more. By doing this he would be able to become a higher form of cultivator and create a Qi Sea inside the Dantian, or Core. These levels are important for the foundation of cultivation because the bones and marrow will be washed up by the qi, casting away the cultivator's mortal body in a sense and infusing it into a Qi Body.
The peak a regular martial artist can achieve, in this stage, a cultivator is in perfect control of their body and views its inner workings. Both things Rexford could do to a certain extent but better control was always wanted.
As the Heat in the room built up to another level of intensity, the Black Gold Vortex churned harder and harder at the surroundings. It was a good thing he put up more Glyphs in the Long Beach Mansion. As well as Qi Formations to prevent himself from getting caught blindsided.
The city had a lot of free Kinetic energy flowing around, why not take it in along with the smog to make things better?
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Learning never stops-
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Resting on the couch after putting his leg through the paces, the would-be Champion watched videos of Martial Competitions, Boxing Matches, Intense Survival Shows, and Medical Documentaries. The laptop tend to go nonstop anytime he was inside relaxing or in his recovery period.
The desktop he purchased and the connecting hard drives attached to it were filling up with downloads of Supernatural events. As many as he could find on the web until his people got back to him again on concrete ones.
Taking a puff of his cigar he frowned. It was already all gone and that was the last one. With no time like the present and since he needed to get more for the business side deals he started to get dressed.
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The Wolf Spirit came over and joined in to go out. Most of the other Spirits went out to search around town and find hotspots of evil spirits or just areas with strong magical fluctuations.
"Are you better at hiding yourself or disguising yourself?" Rexford asked while pulling his car keys out of his Internal Space.
"Yes to both." The Wolf Spirit turned into a ring that had a lot of weight but was just condensed energy. 'I can even communicate mentally this way without expending energy. Not to good at the possession like the others.'
'Might be because you don't remember how to be human really.' Thinking back, he drove off with just the wind heard on the empty highway. Which was really weird all things considering. 'This state is nothing like what I am used to.'
The wolf just assumed he was talking about before he moved here and not something else. But for this being the Big Apple it sort of cleared out at certain times of the day before turning extremely busy later.
Pulling up to the shop, he became very aware that it had a nice steady stream of mana around it. Good to cultivate but feeling the structuring he at least knew it meant someone did it purposefully. Both a mixture of various Arcane and Martial schools there. It was a good thing his studying of the other Rexfords had increased on areas and different visual stimuli they came across.
Of course, the Butcher Rexford was the better at the identification of anything supernatural. But not what they were individually, just that they were not normal or an area was different.
Arriving at the shop in record time, it was good he still had some funds left. Of course, the gems were the hardest to sell from the mine compared to the metals.
*Woom!* Stepping pass the threshold, a cold film of energy washed over his body. The Aspiring Champion could see the same beginning opening but he also could see the various Supernatural forms of those who shopped. America was really the hodgepodge centered of other types of everything.
'Man, Richard, Leroy, and Victoria would lose their shit at something like this. Whether these.. people are behaving because of a powerful figure or not this would still solve a lot of questions they have.' Seeing what appeared to be a Wendigo going through wines was a bit surreal. 'To see a creature that actually terrified me as a kid but not be as scared as I would have been is odd.'
Not staring more than a few seconds Rexford moved around to the area he went last time to get his goods. Window shopping could be done later and taking stock of what they sell just as much.
While he shopped several Supernatural creatures took stock of him. At least 90% for good reasons and the later 10% because the energy around his very hair was harmful to them.
"Oh, this is very good." Rexford found two brands he knew of and used to smoke when he was interning during the summer. "The shopkeeper didn't mention any restrictions on purchasing before."
Picking up both of those and the one brand he had last time it was time to browse the whole place. A lot of the Herbs he was looking for to practice with were around but the quantities and prices were too much at this time.
Rexford made sure to keep his face neutral for most of the time. Even doing small greetings when making eye contact with certain individuals or those who were eyeballing him and thought he didn't know it.
As things go with being known to the community and all, someone tried their luck a little. An older man who looked for all intents and purposes like a Gorgon. The snakes on her head were limp and lifeless, however.
Up close she looked like somebody's mom. No matter how many times somebody would have asked him, Rexford would tell them he only talked to her because she engaged in a conversation with him.
"Excuse me, you are new to the area yes?"
"Yes," Rexford gave a nod as the woman's voice sounded pleasant and reminded him of an old Irish friend. "has not been that long. I came here a few times before but times change."
"I can understand, lots of families like to travel. I am Liadan of... well myself." A weird introduction but he gave her a slight nod. Looking him up and down and seeing his purchases so far she relaxed a little. "Are you some kind of Herbalist?"
The carrier he had so far was stocked full of plants on top. A small film of plastic separates it from the cigar casings. Considering the last few isles he traveled were just that would would assume that.
"Yes, but just an amateur." Which was true as he himself was not qualified just yet. There were tests for that so he would be able to say it clearly later to earn some side hustles. "Messed with plants for quite some time and gearing up to take the appropriate measures to get it recognized."
A few of the other shoppers twitched or perked up at that. It was quite funny and made Rexford think he was in a gossip circle or something. He was still on the bottom floor which still suited his needs considering it seemed to grow longer the more he walked.
Rexford was grateful he didn't meet any of the criteria that would have brought him here last time. This would have ended up in him dying by getting bit by something or running into a creature he couldn't even stand near.
"Well, that is good since most of the Herbalist and Concotors are such assholes." Her eyes shined at the prospect of getting to know him before he got a big name. "Who would I go through to set up a sit-down or browse a catalog?"
"Well I am here now, so we can shop and talk or go somewhere afterward." Rexford gave her a warm smile as businessmen tended to do when they wanted to charm a client or future one. "Until my tests are passed, and the accreditations are there I dare not promote just yet."
"Smart, but small deals are a go. I think we can do both, since I am done anyway." In Liadan's tote bag, she had a few herbs from what Rexford could tell. "What do you know about eye treatments?"
Man and Gorgon as she identified herself as in passing walked down the isles and shot the shit at some point.
A few other supernatural creatures heard the conversation and could only shake their heads in disbelief. A few thought it bold that of the Gorgon was even willing to come out in public with her dying Tribe and her own weak situation.
One, not so polite adversary wanted to confront the woman but thought better of it considering the location. She of course would do so out of the place to prevent any treaties from getting broken.
Not that the hostility wasn't picked up. Rexford was aware of those who were showing indicators of Violence toward him in a certain vicinity. It was an odd feeling but one he was getting used to with his improved senses.