The Beastmaster Association had a total of six floors.
The first floor was the area for beastmaster assessments and bounty missions.
The second floor was the library of the Beastmaster Association.
The sixth floor and the rooftop were the venues for the familiar duels.
Lin Xue led Ji An and the others to an arena on the sixth floor.
This was a stadium that covered an area of four to five hundred square meters.
It was a little small to accommodate the battle of Extraordinary-level familiars, but it was more than enough for a battle at the Morphing level.
"Young Master Ling, Mr. Ji, do you need a judge?" Lin Xue asked the two.
"My mushroom cat and I will be the judges of this duel!" Ling Shuangyue was interested and took the initiative to offer.
"Alright, I'll leave it to you then, Shuangyue."
"Don't worry!" Ling Shuangyue patted her chest with confidence.
With a burst of multi-colored light, a round mushroom that was more than half a meter tall appeared by Ling Shuangyue's feet.
The round cat face on the mushroom stem allowed people to recognize it as a mushroom cat at a glance.
"Both sides can summon their familiars," Ling Shuangyue brought the mushroom cat to the center of the stadium and spoke.
The light of summoning familiars from the soul domain flickered beneath Ji An and the white-robed youth's feet.
The winter bear cub and the black bear that the two had just put back into their soul domains appeared in the stadium.
"Are you all ready?" Ling Shuangyue asked when she saw the two familiars appear.
"Yes," Ji An replied.
However, the teenager in white frowned and said, "Wait a minute."
"What's wrong now, Ling Haoyang? You're so fussy!" Ling Shuangyue was displeased when she heard this, and she called out the young man's name.
Ling Haoyang didn't answer Ling Shuangyue's question. Instead, he turned to Ji An and asked, "Your winter bear cub doesn't seem to be in its best condition?"
Ji An was slightly taken aback by his question.
The winter bear cub had just undergone high-intensity training in the morning and had used up too much of its energy. Even after a few hours of Hibernation, it could not recover to its peak state so quickly.
"That's right. It went through some high-intensity training in the morning that consumed its physical strength," Ji An replied.
Ling Haoyang had an expression that read "I knew it".
He didn't take a close look at it before, but now that he did, he could see that the winter bear cub before him seemed to be a little tired and not in good condition.
Ling Haoyang fumbled around in his clothes, took out something, and walked over to Ji An.
As he walked closer, only then did Ji An clearly see what the other person was holding in his hand.
It was a black ball.
The black ball was the size of a baby's fist, and some golden spots on it flickered like specks of starlight. it was also emitting a pleasant fragrance.
"This is the blackgold pill! Since we're going to have a duel, your winter bear must recover to its peak state for it to be fair. I won't take advantage of you. Take it and let your familiar recover."
Ji An had never seen or used a blackgold pill before, but he had heard of it!
This was a kind of tonic pill developed for familiars. Not only could it replenish the physical strength of the familiars, but it could also provide a large number of nutrients. Its effect was far better than that of sweetgrass milk.
Of course, the price was also far higher.
Even if one purchased them from the Beastmaster Association, they would still cost 10000 each. To think the young man could give one away just like that. Such a generous act immediately surprised Ji An.
"If that's the case, then do allow me to accept your generosity," Ji An didn't stand on ceremony. He wouldn't refuse anything that could increase the winter bear cub's strength.
He took the blackgold pill and handed it to the bear cub, "Winter bear cub, eat it."
The winter bear cub took the blackgold pill Ji An handed over, put it in its mouth, and crushed it in one bite before swallowing it.
Secretly, Ji An told the winter bear cub through their soul connection, "Enter hibernation and digest the blackgold pill first."
Under his instructions, the winter bear cub immediately sat down on the ground and entered a state of Hibernation.
Soon, it fell asleep.
Ling Haoyang looked thoughtfully at the winter bear cub that had already fallen asleep.
"Please wait a moment. My winter bear cub has mastered the Hibernation skill. With this, it can quickly digest the medicinal power and recover its physical strength," Ji An explained to everyone, especially the rich Ling Haoyang.
"Amazing! To think it has mastered an intermediate skill," Ling Haoyang's face was full of praise, and he looked forward to the next battle even more.
His black bear had finished its third Morphing and was also from an advanced Extraordinary-level race, but it had yet to master an intermediate skill.
"It was just a coincidence," Ji An said politely, but his eyes were fixed on the winter bear cub the entire time, paying close attention to the changes in the bear cub's stats after taking the blackgold pill.
To be honest, if he could have it his way, Ji An had wanted to save the blackgold pill for after the battle and take it home.
Combined with the winter bear cub's Hibernation skill, if it could have a good sleep, the effects would definitely be amazing.
However, the rich Ling Haoyang would definitely not let him take the blackgold pill just like that.
According to the other party's words, the blackgold pill was to let the winter bear cub recover its strength and fight in a more energetic state.
If he didn't use it now, the other party would probably take it back.
Time passed by slowly, and the winter bear cub was still sleeping soundly.
It even started to snore.
Even though they were getting a little impatient, everyone present could only wait.
Ten minutes later, the onlookers began to urge him.
"Is it done?" Ling Shuangyue asked.
"Soon, soon," Ji An laughed as he tried to stall.
Based on his understanding of the winter bear cub's Hibernation skill, the longer the time, the better its digestion of the supplements.
At this time, he naturally had to stall as much as he could.
Otherwise, wouldn't he be wasting a tonic worth ten thousand?
That was equivalent to ten jars of sweetgrass milk.
Just like that, they waited for almost half an hour, until the sugar daddy Ling Haoyang started urging as well.
Only then did Ji An reluctantly nod, "Winter bear cub, wake up!"
At Ji An's call, the winter bear cub, who had been sleeping soundly on the ground, opened its eyes and slowly got up.
When Ji An saw the winter bear cub's stats, he was ecstatic in his heart.
Its energy level had reached 32.5.
It hadn't completely digested the blackgold pill, but the pill had already increased the winter bear cub's energy level by one level.
The effects were shocking.
With the bear cub's current daily growth rate, under the circumstances where there was no evolution level increase, it could only increase by one energy level every day.
With this, Ling Haoyang's black bear was only one energy level higher than the winter bear cub.
Ji An was very confident about the upcoming battle.
Ling Haoyang used his combat device to scan the winter bear cub again.
However, the combat device's ability to detect energy levels, especially the energy levels of low-level familiars was still lacking.
It could only detect the general range, and it was even more impossible to be accurate to the decimal point. There would also be errors from time to time.
Ling Haoyang could only tell that the winter bear cub's energy level was around 30.
Unlike Ji An, who could see the exact numbers at a glance.
Therefore, the energy level change of the winter bear cub was obviously not noticed by the other party.