Ji An's target this time was a winter bear.
Even though the one before him was an adult winter bear, not a winter bear cub that was most suitable for a new beastmaster to form a contract with, Ji An still used the Eye of Insight to observe it carefully.
However, the potential of this winter bear was nothing special.
[Race]: Winter bear
[Evolution Potential]: Lower Extraordinary / Lower Extraordinary
Its potential was the same as its current race level, which meant that the natural evolution potential of the winter bear before him had been exhausted.
Without the help of external forces, it would probably only be able to maintain its current state for the rest of its life and would not be able to evolve naturally.
Not only had its evolution potential been exhausted, but its skill potential was also mediocre.
Ji An retracted his gaze in disappointment.
"Roar~" Right at that moment, a childish bear's roar attracted Ji An's attention.
"Roar~" the source of the sound came from the forest behind the adult winter bear.
Ji An hurriedly looked over.
He saw a group of winter bear cubs playing around, chasing each other as they emerged from the depths of the forest.
They were like moving white meatballs.
Among them, one of the little bears that had seemed to be the happiest when running accidentally sank its short limbs into a snow pile and had its face plummeted into the snow.
The winter bear cub struggled a few times only to sink deeper into the snow.
It looked at its companions running away and groaned in anxiousness.
In a moment of desperation, it used its two chubby forearms to push at the edge of the snow pile. Then, with a kick from its hind legs, it immediately pulled out its chubby legs from the snow like pulling out a carrot and continued to have fun.
Ji An was delighted and hurriedly looked over.
Information about the winter bear cubs appeared before Ji An's eyes.
To his disappointment, most of the winter bear cubs had the same potential as the adult winter bear. They were all limited to the lower Extraordinary level.
This also meant that they did not have the talent for natural evolution.
Only the little bear that had sunk into the snow pile just now had a slightly stronger evolution potential than its companions.
It had the potential to naturally evolve into an advanced Extraordinary level creature.
In other words, it had the potential to evolve to the level of the crimson blade mantis.
However, this clearly wasn't the legendary familiar that Ji An had been thinking about.
In his previous life, that familiar had been one of the strongest fighters of Encircle Town when it was on the verge of destruction.
How could its potential only be at the advanced Extraordinary level?
It should not be inferior to Peiling's wind chime princess, at the very least.
Ji An continued to search for other winter bears in this snow-covered mountain forest.
"Mr. Ji, it seems like you're very interested in the winter bear. Do you want to contract with one?" Li Ya, who could tell that Ji An seemed to have a special liking for winter bears, asked.
Ji An nodded and didn't deny, "I've heard of the winter bear before."
"Please follow me. The habitat of the winter bears in our base is by the ice lake on the other side of the mountain," After Li Ya finished speaking, she plunged into the forest and walked toward the end of the forest with uneven steps.
Ji An followed closely behind.
Fortunately, he knew that the weather at his destination was cold, so he wore thicker clothes. He even took out the military coat his father had left behind.
Otherwise, in this world of ice and snow, he would have already been shivering from the cold.
After walking out of the forest, Ji An immediately saw the pack of winter bears that Li Ya had mentioned.
The meatballs rolling on the ice were really delightful to watch.
There were more than 20 meatballs in the pile.
Would the legendary familiar be inside?
Ji An was quite expectant.
Unfortunately, the distance was too far, beyond the range of his Eye of Insight.
Ji An shook off the ice and snow on his feet and quickened his pace to catch up with Li Ya as they walked towards the frozen lake.
As he walked closer, Ji An's laser-like eyes swept across the winter bears one by one.
Slowly, the joy in his heart disappeared.
After looking around, most of them were ordinary winter bears that had exhausted their natural evolution potential.
Those who were slightly more talented were about the same as the bear cub just now with advanced Extraordinary level potential.
"The winter bears of the base are basically all here. Is there one that you have taken a fancy to?" Li Ya asked when they arrived at the center of the frozen lake.
Li Ya's words caused Ji An's heart to skip a beat.
"In terms of the timing, it should be right. The legendary winter bear should have only revealed its extraordinary talent in Year 18 of the new era before being subdued by the Little Bear King Yang Sheng. But why is it that I can't find it?" Ji An suddenly thought of a possibility, and his heart trembled slightly, "Could it be that it hasn't been born yet?!"
The legendary winter bear was certainly subdued next year, a fact he could not be wrong about.
However, it was still unknown if the winter bear had been born!
Could it be that he was going to get nothing this time?
If that legendary familiar hadn't been born yet, he couldn't just wait and not subdue his initial familiar.
After checking all the winter bears on the lake again to make sure that he didn't miss anything, Ji An still didn't give up and asked, "Other than these, are there no other winter bears?"
Li Ya pondered for a moment and said with a strange expression, "Now that you've asked, I remember. There's indeed a little fellow who's only been born a few months and not even half a year old. However, that little fellow is a little... Um... How should I put it... A little strange."
Li Ya's words immediately made Ji An's heart, which had turned cold, heat up again.
Strange? It's right for it to be strange!
If it wasn't strange, would it be called a legendary familiar?
Ji An feigned nonchalance and asked, "How is it strange?"
"That little fellow is very fond of sleeping. If you're interested, I'll take you there."
Fond of sleeping?
One of the easiest talent skills for winter bears to master was Hibernation. Wasn't it normal for them to be fond of sleeping?
Ji An was slightly confused.
"Please take me there."
Li Ya then led Ji An into the forest they had come from, treading with uneven steps.
In the depths of the mountain forest, under a large tree whose crown had been bent by the heavy snow, Ji An finally saw the strange little bear that Li Ya had mentioned.
The bear cub was currently covered in snow, like a little snowman standing on the snow.
Li Ya walked over and swept the snow off the bear cub's body as she explained, "This is the little fellow that I was talking about. Even though winter bears are all very fond of sleeping, this little fellow can be considered to be a unique individual in their race. The other winter bears only sleep for one or two days at most before they wake up from hunger. In contrast, this little guy will sleep for at least a week before waking up to eat. Once it falls asleep, it won't wake up even if it's struck by lightning."
"Since this is an ice field, the base would often let powerful ice-type familiars come here to create artificial snow to maintain the climate. If no one finds it on a snowy day, it can even be buried alive by the snow, so I come to sweep the snow covering it every few days," Li Ya cleaned the thick snow off the bear cub's body. Her tone was speechless as if this little bear was really troublesome.
Li Ya's words fell into Ji An's ears, but he wasn't listening.
All of his attention was on the bear cub before them that had made Li Ya helpless.
Even though an adult winter bear was huge, a winter bear cub that was not even half a year old was no longer than half a meter long. It was probably only as tall as his knee.
The furry, toot, charmingly naïve little bear had a harmless appearance, but the potential it contained was so bright that Ji An's eyes were almost blinded.
[Race]: Winter bear
[Evolution Potential]: Lower Extraordinary / Advanced Disaster
[Acquired Skill]: Hibernation (200/800)
[Potential Skills]: Ice-breaking Palm (0/720), Hard Ice (0/785), Cold Air (0/682), Monstrous Strength (0/695), Avalanche Impact (0/553)