At noon, Ji An brought the winter bear cub, who still wanted to continue, home from the construction site.
At home, after feeding the winter bear cub 1.5 liters of sweetgrass milk, Ji An left the house and headed to the Beastmaster Association.
He had a few books he had rented from the Beastmaster Association in his arms.
Ji An, who wasn't lacking in money, had been visiting the Beastmaster Association's library more frequently these days.
In the past half a month, not only had the winter bear cub's strength improved by leaps and bounds, but Ji An's knowledge of familiars had also been rapidly accumulated and increased.
Even though the winter bear cub had been busy with training during this period and hadn't fought in actual combat, having learned quite a few practical battle tactics, Ji An believed that the winter bear cub would be able to display its strength to a greater extent in actual combat.
They would not be as passive as last time.
After returning the books to the Beastmaster Association, Ji An arrived at the bottom of the bounty wall, preparing to accept a bounty.
He was looking for a bounty that could allow the winter bear cub to gain actual combat experience and hone its Hard Ice and Ice-breaking Palm.
Ji An, who had long since heard of a certain bounty, quickly found his target.
"Clean up the gray-spotted rats in the city's sewers. A D grade mission."
With a D grade rating, it indicated that this mission was considered quite difficult among all D grade missions.
It wasn't suitable for new Beastmasters.
As such, when Ji An went to the front desk to accept the bounty, another young beastmaster, Ma Qinghe, who happened to be here to accept the bounty as well, had a surprised expression.
" Xiao Ji, you're also taking on the mission to clear out the gray-spotted rats?" Ma Qinghe could not help but ask.
"Yeah, Brother Ma," Ji An said with a smile, seeing an acquaintance.
Ma Qinghe was one of the beastmasters that Ji An had gotten to know after spending more time in the Beastmaster Association this month.
He was a rank 10 Entry-level beastmaster who was trying to break through to become an Extraordinary-level Beastmaster.
Because of his friendly disposition, many in the Association called him Brother Ma.
There was another person following Ma Qinghe. It was a tall woman with a hot figure, rank nine Entry-level beastmaster, Dai Na.
Dai Na couldn't help but interject, "Xiao Ji, it hasn't even been a month since you officially registered as a beastmaster, right? Do listen to my advice, this mission doesn't suit you. You may think that the gray-spotted rats can't even be considered a lower Extraordinary race and that they're just evolved creatures, but they move in groups. Their groups are in the tens or hundreds at any time. Among the rat groups, there may even be steel-toothed rats or poison-tailed rats that have evolved into Transcendents."
After Dai Na spoke with sincerity, she let Ji An think about it.
"I know, sister Dai. I'm just planning to stay at the sewer entrance and see if any gray-spotted rats have slipped through the net. I won't go deep into the sewer," Ji An explained.
The city's sewers lead outside the city. As such, the evolved rats that were originally active outside the city had entered the city's sewer system.
They would often cause damage to the city's sewers, and occasionally, they would even rush out of the sewers and hurt people.
As such, the bounty department of the Management Council, in collaboration with the Beastmaster Association, had a year-round bounty set up for clearing out the gray-spotted rats.
Seeing Ji An's determined expression, Dai Na didn't say anything else, but simply said, "Then you better be careful. Don't go too deep. I don't want to receive your obituary."
"Don't worry, Sister Dai," Ji An knew that Dai Na had a sharp tongue but a soft heart, so he didn't take it to heart. Instead, he felt a slight warmth in his heart.
After accepting the bounty, he was prepared to leave.
When he was about to leave the association, he bumped into a familiar face, Lin Xue.
"Sister Lin," The seemingly young Lin Xue was already close to 30 years old, so Ji An greeted her in such a way.
"Oh, it's Ji An," Lin Xue, who was already quite familiar with Ji An, no longer addressed him as "Mr. Ji", "I was just about to call you!"
"Why?" Ji An was puzzled. Even though he and Lin Xue had become quite familiar with each other, they were still far from being close enough to chat on the phone.
"Come with me," Lin Xue was holding a stack of documents in her hands, and she motioned for Ji An to follow her to the VIP room not far away.
In the VIP room, after hearing Lin Xue's words, Ji An finally understood what she meant.
"Sister Lin, does this mean that I can get a share of the government's special subsidy?" Ji An's face was full of surprise.
"That's right. Last month, it was the third anniversary of Senior Colonel Wang Huai's death, and the beastmaster army's higher-ups decided to use this as an excuse to increase the compensation for the widows and orphans of the military. "
"After the resolution of the seven-man council, this pension will be extended to all residents of Encircle Town. However, it's only targeted at the orphans of the residents of Encircle Town who have died in the beast disaster and have become beastmasters."
"Once I thought about it, aren't you one?" Lin Xue explained.
"Sister Lin, how should I apply for it?" Ji An asked.
It would be a waste not to get the official subsidy.
"I have the form here. After you've filled it out, go to the Welfare Institute and get a stamp from the director. Give me a proof letter and I'll submit it for you," Lin Xue said as she pulled out a document from the large stack of documents and handed it to Ji An.
Ji An took the document and gratefully said, "Thank you for going out of your way, sister Lin."
Lin Xue smiled and waved her hand, "You're a rare genius Beastmaster among us commoners. I'm counting on you to make us proud. It's not just those beastmaster families that can produce strong people. "
Ji An smiled wryly.
Ever since the battle with Ling Haoyang, Lin Xue seemed to have the illusion that he was a genius beastmaster.
After learning about his identity and experience through the Association's system, Lin Xue, who was also a commoner, was even more fond of him.
After filling in the form, Ji An stood up and left.
"I haven't been back to the orphanage for a long time. It's time to go back and take a look," Even though the last time he went to the orphanage was a month and a half ago, now that he had been reborn, ten years would have to be added to that period.
Even though he hadn't led a happy life in the orphanage, the place had many things that Ji An found difficult to part with.
The orphanage was located in the eastern district of the city.
After several expansions, the orphanage now occupied a large area.
Of course, the sign hanging on the wall did not write the words "orphanage" but "Welfare Institute of Encircle Town".
"Oh, it's Ji An. You're here to see the little devils again?"
"That's right, Grandpa Sun. I came in a hurry this time and forgot to bring you the Huji rice wine from the southern district."
"Haha, it's alright. Hurry up and go in."
The old man at the door was an old acquaintance of Ji An's, so when he saw the boy, he didn't even ask Ji An to register. After chatting for a while, he opened the door and let Ji An in.
The children in the orphanage were still in class.
Although he hadn't seen those kids for a long time, Ji An still didn't disturb them.
He went to the director first.
The director was still the same one from a few years ago.
Encircle Town had only been around for seven years.
The Welfare Institute had been established for a shorter period, and thus had never had a new director.
The director was a very strict old man.
Ji An, who had been among the first batch of children to grow up in the orphanage, was left with an indelible memory of military management.
That management style was from the director, Cha Bin.
Even though his original intention was to make the management of the Welfare Institute more standardized, he had more or less overlooked the natures and feelings of Ji An and the others, who were orphans.
This also gave Cha Bin the title of Devil Cha.
Thinking about how he was about to meet Devil Cha whom he had not seen for ten years, Ji An's feelings were indescribable.
To Ji An and the rest of the orphans, although Devil Cha was a strict manager, he was also their true guardian.
Although life in the Welfare Institute wasn't happy, it was because of the existence of the strict and fair Devil Cha that there was no bullying or scolding in the Welfare Institute.
He could treat any child almost the same.
This was also the reason why it was difficult for children who left the Welfare Institute to really hold a grudge against him.