A few months later, two steam-based vehicles stopped in front of the orphanage. Four burly bodyguards came out wearing trench coats and two from the other vehicle. Just the deadly aura around them was enough to show that they're not to be trifled with. A somewhat skinny middle-aged man came out from the first vehicle wearing one as well, except he looked intelligent and nerdy. He wore glasses that he constantly adjusted and his black hair dropped to his shoulders. But he seemed somewhat confident as he walked towards the gates.
Seeing the box and her near the entrance, he stopped and Xinyue felt naked before his gaze. She quickly picked up the box and backed away. The guy scoffed at her disdainfully before walking inside. Two bodyguards guarded the entrance while one followed in. Xinyue only watched cautiously from the distance, clenching the jagged metal knife in her hand while gritting her teeth. Such was humiliating. But she was no match despite her ability getting stronger everyday.
Xinyue could already walk normally and levitate for about forty minutes. Although she could already take down an average human, she had no idea what it'd be like if she attacked a cultivator. After all, Qi and telekinesis are two different things while one's something that probably doesn't exist in this world. She also doesn't want to attract attention as of right now since she'd be experimented on till death if found out. It'd be best to lay low until she's powerful enough to defend herself.
An hour passed before the guy came out with three boys following behind him. All three were teenagers and had fluctuations of Qi around their body. They all had excited and proud faces as they were escorted out of the orphanage with a bodyguard at the back. They didn't even glance at Xinyue and entered the second vehicle before the bodyguards entered. Then the vehicles blew out steam before leaving the area behind.
A few months passed again as normal, except for Xinyue. Her mental capacity had slowed down as there was nothing to drain her mental energy fast enough like it used to. Going any bigger will put herself at risk for being exposed so she could only develop her body which was only comparable to an eight year-old. It's an impressive feat considering that she's only close to a year old by now. But there's no need to use her mental energy to stand anymore.
My mental growth is too slow. I can fully defend myself against average humans even if they're trained in martial arts. I have no choice but to leave this place and seek ways to strengthen myself more. She thought as she gazed at the familier wooden box.
She had been accustomed to the Li nun that treated her very well, and had deeply moved her heart. Xinyue couldn't help but feel sadness at the thought of leaving.
She gazed at the reflection of herself in the puddle. Black hair was already growing from her head by a few inches. She had brown eyes, black eyelashes, and black eyebrows. Her looks are quite average, but has been sharpened and hardened. This was the result reality does on a poor person.
The high metabolism from her expanding mental capacity and body training barely left room for growth because of her limited food. The result was an abnormally thin body and sharp face. Her stomach abs were already visible along with the muscles on her body. But she had developed the strength of a thirteen year old which was quite terrifying if you thought about it. Her height is 29 inches which is still average for her age, but still below the knee level for average adults.
With that in mind, she left behind a goodbye letter to the Li lady written in milk before setting off with the old cloth wrapped around her. Xinyue began walking down the streets, passing her previous farthest distance. People occasionally glanced at her weirdly but she ignored them. Time slowly went by as she familiarized herself with this town. She slowly gathered information from conversations to figure out where a library was.
The good part was the library was public and the fact that the female librarian didn't discriminate based on her poorly covered body. Xinyue took the time to search through the books of the descent-sized library. Only after gaining a substantial amount of information did she manage to form a basic understanding of the world around her.
Villages, towns, and cities are all ranked individually from 1 to 10 in terms of economic power in this world. The name of this town is Pitmerden and is a rank 5 village that is governed by a city lord named Duan Xuegang. He's apparently a member of the Duan clan that controls 13 cities that are all around the area called the Duan sector, which currently spans hundreds of miles. This clan is apparently a low-grade clan among many other sectors around them and is close to the border of the mother empire.
The mother empire is called the Xun Empire which is a dominate powerhouse that spans a diameter of 964,220 miles, 1,551,761.67 kilometers, or 3,103,523 Li. In comparison, the diameter of the sun is 11% smaller. Meaning the sun she knew of could fit snugly inside and still have leftover room. It really made her question her scientific understandings.
Empires are also ranked from 1 to 10 and the Xun Empire is a rank 2 empire. It's a central government run by an imperial family known as the Zeng Clan. It happens to coincidentally be the same as her surname from her past life, but there's probably others with the same surname.
Even though it's rank is a mere 2, it's a major deterrent to the neighboring empires whose ranks are all 1. Each jump in rank is a massive leap that makes it incomparable to its past in terms of power and economy. Even if the six rank 1 empires touching the Xun border where to invade, they'd all be forced to retreat with the Xun Empire suffering minor damage.
Apparently all the empires and ones outside the six rank 1 empires exist in a region with poor resources and thin Qi. But there's empires outside the region way stronger than the Xun empire. If it wasn't for poor resources and thin Qi, it's likely this region would've been invaded long ago.
This town is one of countless other ones within the Xun Empire's influence and sectors like the Duan sector are in the thousands as well. Generally, the closer one is to the mother empire, the higher in ranking one is as the resources and wealth are concentrated into the central area of the Xun Empire. But this is an exception if the town is situated upon resources or has strategic value.
Xinyue couldn't help but feel insignificant, and cold water was splashed upon her newfound confidence. She's like a little tadpole who had just turned into a frog in a pond, only to realize she's fallen an ocean full of creatures way larger than her.
Shit, I thought I'd be invincible. But I still have a long way. She thought as she gritted her teeth in frustration.