Director Cha Bin, who was over 50 years old, was an old man with white hair.
He was not much different from what Ji An remembered.
In fact, he looked much younger than he had imagined.
The director was from the old era.
It was said that in the old era, he was an active soldier in the Yanhuang Kingdom.
Then, in the new era, he moved to Encircle Town somehow.
Before he became the director of the Welfare Institute in Encircle Town, he was once a soldier in the beastmaster army.
The military style was vividly reflected in him.
Even though he was already over fifty years old, he still stood tall and straight. His simple clothes and somewhat worn appearance were all meticulously taken care of.
He looked straight at Ji An with a serious expression.
"You've become a beastmaster? " Cha Bin asked after sizing up Ji An, who had suddenly come to visit, in surprise.
"Yes, director. I was lucky enough to awaken my soul not long ago with the soul awakening potion," Ji An answered honestly.
"Being able to awaken through the potion is also your ability. Have you contracted a familiar?" The director asked.
"Yes."
"Summon it for me to see."
"Here?" Ji An glanced at the office, which wasn't very spacious.
"What's wrong? Is the office not big enough? How big can a Morphing-level familiar be?" The director seemed to know a lot about familiars.
"It's enough," Ji An laughed awkwardly as he summoned the winter bear cub.
An icy blue light appeared under his feet, and the door to the soul domain slowly opened.
With that, the winter bear cub's figure appeared in the director's office.
"Oh, it's a winter bear," The director looked at the winter bear cub's figure and said in a rather emotional tone.
His face revealed a trace of reminiscence.
The director walked to the bear cub and slowly squatted. He sized up the bear cub, who also had a curious look on its face.
"Ji An, you've raised this winter bear quite well," The director stood up and praised Ji An.
"It's alright," Ji An scratched the back of his head, thinking that the director was just being polite.
After all, no matter how he looked at him, the director was just an ordinary person. He shouldn't know much about familiars. How could he understand familiars just with a glance?
Seeing Ji An's expression, the director's eyes, which were filled with the vicissitudes of life and seemed to be able to see through people's hearts, smiled.
"What, you think I'm talking nonsense?" He chuckled, "Before I came to set up this Welfare Institute, I was in Encircle City's beastmaster army too."
Ji An was slightly taken aback by the director's words.
As far as he could remember, he had never heard of Devil Cha being a beastmaster.
They only thought that he was once an armed logistics member of the beastmaster army.
The director's face was filled with reminiscence as he continued to speak, "Back then, when Commissar Zhou, Commissar Lu, and the others worked together to build this town, I was one of the first beastmasters to join. Five years ago, a beast disaster struck Encircle Town. I was ordered to lead my men to stop the beast disaster on the front line to slow down the beast disaster's advancement to Encircle Town and buy time for the weak town then to build a defensive array."
"It was also in that brutal beast disaster that almost all of my subordinates died on the battlefield, and my familiars left me one after another. Even I suffered fatal injuries. Even though I was lucky enough to survive in the end, my soul domain collapsed, cutting off my path to becoming a Transcendent."
In a few short sentences, the director gave Ji An a brief account of his extraordinary past.
Ji An's heart trembled when he heard this, and he felt rather uncomfortable.
Ji An, who had been young back then, had some impression of the cruelty of that era.
After all, his parents had left him during the beast disaster of that era.
"You should only be at the rank 2 or 3 Entry level, right?" Even if his soul power no longer existed, the director's discerning ability remained.
From the subtle changes in Ji An's body and aura, he could roughly tell the former's beastmaster level.
"Yes, you have a good eye, director."
"This is nothing. Before I was injured and lost my soul power, I was once a top-tier Extraordinary-level beastmaster," The director looked at Ji An smugly.
Among the Extraordinary, Commander, and Legend-level beastmasters, each level could be further differentiated into different tiers according to their different levels of strength.
Usually, a beastmaster who could employ a low-tier transcendent-level familiar was called an ordinary transcendent-level.
By the same logic, a beastmaster who could subdue a lower-class Extraordinary-level familiar would be called a general Extraordinary-level beastmaster.
In the same sense, a beastmaster who could subdue an intermediate-class or advanced-class Extraordinary-level familiar was thus called a senior Extraordinary-level beastmaster and a veteran Extraordinary-level beastmaster, respectively.
As for a beastmaster who could control multiple advanced-class Extraordinary-level familiars, and whose soul power was close to the commander level, they would be called a top-tier Extraordinary-level beastmaster.
Hearing this, Ji An was slightly stunned.
He didn't expect the director to have such a glorious past.
Things had changed over time. Encircle Town had been built for seven years now, and the familiars were also developing at a rapid pace.
However, to this day, top-tier Extraordinary-level beastmasters could be considered rare experts even among the beastmasters in Encircle Town.
That day, the intrepid beastmaster riding the flame tiger he saw at the entrance of the Beastmaster Association was a veteran Extraordinary-level beastmaster or even a top-tier one.
Many years ago, a top-tier Extraordinary-level beastmaster was undoubtedly even more valuable.
"Alright, tell me, what's the matter? You didn't come to me just to tell me the good news, did you?" The director was quite satisfied with the shock in Ji An's eyes, and he slowly asked.
Ji An told him about the government subsidy that he had heard from Lin Xue.
"Oh, I've just received the notice about this matter. Bring your form here, I'll stamp it for you now."
Soon, Ji An achieved his objective for this trip. Not only was the application form stamped with the director's seal, but he also received a letter of proof from the director.
Just as Ji An was about to take his leave, the director waved his hand and said, "Wait, don't be in a hurry to leave."
"Director, do you have any orders?" Ji An asked.
"Follow me."
Although Ji An was puzzled, he still obediently followed
Not long after, Ji An and the director of the orphanage arrived at a single-story house in the corner of the orphanage.
There was a small field in front of the bungalow, planted full of seasonal vegetables and fruits.
"The director's residence," Ji An, who had been at the Welfare Institute for two years, was no stranger to this place. However, he didn't understand why the director had brought him to his residence.
"Come in with me," The director opened the door and waved at Ji An, "Sit for a while."
Even though the director's residence was a bungalow, it was not luxurious. On the contrary, it was very simple and crude.
As Ji An sat on the wooden sofa and waited, he pondered over the director's purpose.
Very quickly, the director walked out.
He was struggling to carry a seemingly heavy box in his hand.
Ji An hurriedly got up and went over to help.
However, the weight in his hands almost caused him to drop the box.
It probably weighed more than a hundred kilograms.
"Winter bear cub, I'll leave it to you," Ji An hurriedly summoned the winter bear cub, which had so much strength that it seemed like it couldn't run out.
The director was also secretly surprised by the strength displayed by the winter bear cub. He guessed that it might be a winter bear with talent in strength.
"Just put it on the living room floor," The director pointed at an empty space in the living room.
"Winter bear cub, just put it there."
The director walked forward and opened the lid of the box with unknown materials, revealing the items inside, "These are all wondrous items,"
"Wondrous items?" Ji An's expression changed.