This young lady looked to be around Ji An's age, but she was very respected by the children from the Welfare Institute although she was soft-spoken.
It was Su Man, the orphanage's teacher.
"Ji An, you've become a beastmaster?" Su Man looked at Ji An and the winter bear cub in surprise and asked the same question as the old director.
"I was lucky enough to awaken recently," Ji An had a deep impression of this girl, who had entered the orphanage at the same time as him.
Or rather, it could be said that their batch of children had a deep impression of this intelligent young girl.
When he was 16 years old, he left the Welfare Institute and had been busy working to earn money. Without any skills, he initially became a regular at construction sites.
Su Man, who was the same age as him, had shown great talent in grammar.
The year she was fifteen years old and still underage, she was recruited in advance by the only advanced grammar school in Encircle Town.
She became a student at a higher education institute.
The length of study in grammar school should normally be four years.
However, Su Man, who was a gifted student, graduated from grammar school at the age of 17 in less than two years.
She originally had the chance to join a big company or work in a famous school, but she resolutely chose a path that countless people could not understand. She returned to the Welfare Institute and became a teacher.
Now, at the age of 18, she had been working at the Welfare Institute for more than a year.
She could be considered an experienced teacher.
Ji An had a good impression of Su Man.
In his impression, she was a smart girl who always smiled.
In the children of the same batch, almost no one hated her.
However, according to the timeline in his previous life, Su Man died in an accident to protect her students in the beast disaster that would happen less than a year later.
He remembered that when he heard the news, he felt extremely regretful and dejected for a long time.
At this moment, seeing Su Man who was standing in front of him, Ji An's heart was filled with complicated emotions.
"You're here to see Little Devil and the others, right?" Su Man asked.
"That's right. Have they been well-behaved in school these days?"
"Not bad. After being lectured by you a month ago, they've been quite well-behaved."
"That's good."
After discussing with Su Man how Little Devil and the other children had performed at school, Ji An finally turned his gaze to the children who had been surrounding the winter bear the entire time.
"Ms. Su Man said you guys are doing well, but keep it up. Do you hear me?" Seeing that the Little Devil was still staring at the winter bear cub, Ji An raised his voice.
"Yes, Brother Xiaojian."
"Yes, yes."
The little fellows replied Ji An perfunctorily without turning their heads, their eyes never leaving the winter bear cub.
However, the bear cub had no time to care about them. It was busy studying its new toy, the gravity rings.
Ji An had said that these rings would allow its Monstrous Strength to skyrocket.
The winter bear cub didn't dare to be negligent when it came to improving its strength.
"These guys!" Ji An had a helpless look on his face.
"Haha, it's normal. After all, it's rare to see familiars at the Welfare Institute. It's only natural for these children to be curious. It's just that I didn't expect you to become a great beastmaster in just a month," Su Man said with a smile.
"What great? Don't flatter me," Ji An said, waving his hand.
He stayed at the Welfare Institute for a while.
Ji An left a few tens of Yuan each for Little Devil and the others, then prepared to leave.
Before they parted, the Little Devil's words brought back Ji An's memories, "Brother Xiaojian, do you still remember Xiao An? "
"Xiao An..."
The orphanage had once adopted a stray dog.
Many of the orphans had taken turns to take care of it, and among them, Little Devil and the others had taken care of the dog the most.
The stray dog's name was Xiao An.
Ji An was the one who gave it the name.
He was too lazy to think of a name, so he gave it the "An" in his name.
Unfortunately, Xiao An didn't have any Transcendent power. It couldn't even be considered an evolved creature.
It was just an ordinary pet dog.
One time, a stray dog had snuck into the dormitory of the Welfare Institute's orphans to look for food, without the staff noticing.
Coincidentally, Little Devil and the others were feeding Xiao An.
The famished dog naturally came up to snatch the food and bit the little ones.
Seeing that the children were about to be bitten, Xiao An stepped forward to protect them despite the disparity in strength.
At that time, Xiao An was not an adult yet. It was only a puppy and was small in size. As a result, it was seriously injured in the fight with the fierce dog.
Later on, it died from severe injuries.
"Since I'm here, let's go and see Xiao An," After Xiao An's death, Ji An, who had heard the news, rushed over and helped the Little Devil and the others bury it in the little forest in the rear courtyard of the Welfare Institute.
There was a small grave under a big banyan tree.
A small stone tablet stood there, and on it, the words "The tomb of the loyal dog Xiao An" were engraved.
It was time for Little Devil and the others to start their lessons again.
Ji An brought the winter bear cub to the small forest.
In front of Xiao An's grave, Ji An told the winter bear cub about this old story.
The winter bear cub was obviously indignant. It seemed that it wished it could appear at that time and give that vicious dog a few slaps.
Ji An looked at the winter bear cub's indignant expression.
He shook his head and said, "Bear cub, I believe that the dog is definitely not your match. However, your future opponents are not ordinary creatures, but Transcendent creatures. Compared to those powerful Transcendent creatures, you are still very weak."
The winter bear cub couldn't help but recall the silver-armed king kong and the winter bear it had seen on television.
Indeed, it was still a weak bear cub.
It suddenly felt a little depressed.
"But you have great potential," Ji An continued, "As long as you train hard and grow up quickly, you'll be able to protect everyone you want to protect."
The winter bear cub agreed with Ji An's words. The explosive increase in strength every day was already a sign of its extraordinary talent.
It waved its arm, which had gravity rings on it, to show its determination.
Ji An could sense the winter bear cub's determination. He smiled and said, " "Winter bear cub, I don't think I've given you a name yet. Even Xiao An has a name. How can you, as the future bear king, not have a resounding name? "
"Roar!" The winter bear cub was even more excited than Ji An. Having a name sounded very powerful, and it was a good match for its future status as the bear king.
"I only hope that you can grow up safely and reach the limit of your evolution potential. Why don't I call you Ping An? It just so happens that my name also has the word "An" in it."
"Roar!" The winter bear cub was quite satisfied with this name which shared the same name as Ji An. Not bad, it was a good match for the bear king.
After giving it a name, Ji An turned his gaze to the winter bear cub.
He couldn't help but let out a soft gasp at what he saw with the Eye of Insight.
Less than an hour ago, the winter bear cub's Monstrous Strength had only been at a mastery value of 209. In just a short while, it had reached 211.
"Are the effects of the gravity rings so immediate?" Ji An couldn't help but sigh in amazement.
He had trained the winter bear cub for the entire morning on the construction site, but the winter bear cub's Monstrous Strength had only increased by 3 points.
Yet in less than an hour now, the winter bear cub's Monstrous Strength had already increased by two points.
"If this speed of improvement can be maintained, it seems that Monstrous Strength will break through to the Mastery realm soon," Ji An was filled with anticipation.
"It's time to go back," Seeing that it was getting late, Ji An suppressed his excitement and prepared to leave.
However, he didn't plan to take the bear cub back home by putting it in his soul domain.
Instead, he was prepared to let the winter bear cub follow him back.
He could use this to train its Monstrous Strength through the gravity rings.
After all, the winter bear cub would probably sleep when they returned.
Wearing the gravity rings, the winter bear cub staggered, and its speed was much slower than Ji An's.
However, Ji An was patient and stopped every few steps to wait for the bear cub.
Just like this, half an hour had passed by the time they arrived at their home in the southern district.
Even though the journey took two to three times the usual time, when Ji An saw that the winter bear cub's Monstrous Strength had achieved a mastery value of 213, he instantly smiled, feeling that the trip had been worth it.