Ch-40 Julian's Past (2)

Since the village didn't have weapons, Julian 's only option was to search for it outside the village. This was a very terrifying prospect to him who grew up listening to bedtime stories about the horrors and cruelty that laid outside the Village's barrier. Although there was no way to be sure if these stories were true or made up, everyone was scared of the unknown and Julian was no exception.

Julian's home, Healing Village had been isolated for ages, so its residents had not come in contact with the Outside World. The Outside World did not matter to them and in a similar manner they didn't matter to the Outside World. Healing Village seemed to exist on another plane similar to Another World.

The reason Healing Village could cut off connection with Arcane World was due to having everything they needed to survive. They were not short on any of the major resources which didn't warrant them to search for any outside the Village's premises. Only when one was short on resources would they start searching outside their prescribed boundaries. Just as Julian wanted to go outside in search of ways to increase his strength because staying in the Hidden Village couldn't.

Julian's decision would determine his future path and the way he was going to spend the rest of his life, whether his thirst of becoming stronger had more weight or fear of the unknown.

It wasn't easy to make the decision, but once Julian made the decision there was no turning back . On the same night, he left Hidden Village using tricks he had learnt after years of exploring around. As he left, he looked back at his village with bright thinking about the glorious future when he would be revered as a hero for saving the village. Only later does he realize how childish the wish was.

Julian practically had no knowledge about weapons or about their different kinds. The meager knowledge he had came from observing trespasser who used weapons to fight. He came across them a couple of time when they tried to seize Healing Village. Of course, he wondered why bother trying since they were signing a death wish by picking a fight with his village.

Julian's knowledge may have been lacking on weapons but he was sure that it would pave the way for the next stage of development.

What he had to find was a way to use these weapons to open up that path.

Julian's journey had a every rough starting as he tried to research more about weapons and the ways in which it could help him. In his travels, he came in contact with a blacksmith of a particular village.

At the time when Jasper met the blacksmith, he was naive and didn't know how Arcane World worked. Healing village was a peaceful place where deceit was non-existent. Everyone had what they wanted so there was no need for it and had loving and caring natures. He had never come across mean people in his life until that point.

The Village cautioned everyone about the state in which the Healing Village was formed but Julian took the legend lightly. He didn't hide his Healing Magic from the blacksmith and that's why he experienced hell.

The blacksmith took him by surprise, using his superior physical strength and martial arts, Jasper resisted against the blacksmith momentum but try as he might the choice of his time was too good and he was swept away by the momentum. The blacksmith was actually wolf in sheep clothing pretending to live as a normal person when he was not.

Unable to counterattack, Julian was immobilized which rendered his strength useless as he was caught.

The blacksmith was a slave driver who didn't let his slaves to ever rest. He didn't care about the number of death he caused, all he cared was the final product which fetched quite a lot of money in the market.

First he taught Jasper how to make weapons in a brutal manner none which happened to also be one of the fastest ways to make. Then made him make work from day to night until he was one breath away from losing consciousness. He was treated worse than a slave utilizing and exploiting him in every imaginable way.

By the time Julian was freed from the clutches of blacksmith, it had been years being exploited by him. He had changed into someone else. The change were so stark that people of Healing Village may not be able to recognize him. But that didn't matter, nothing in this World mattered to him except constantly increasing his strength.

More so now when he had lost his pride, arrogance, family, friends, village and everything he ever cared about. Still every bad situation also provided some benefits. These years of being forced to make weapons had made him an expert in the usage of weapons and he could produce them anywhere, anytime if he was provide with the required resources.

However, this was not enough for his dream of paving a new path of constant growth for Healing Magicians to come true .

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In the ensuing chaos after the death of cruel blacksmith, Julian escaped at the first chance he got with all of cruel blacksmiths money. There was no regret as he stole his money, at the same time he realized, just a few years back he would have vehemently opposed stealing and wouldn't let someone else do it.

People's experiences always change them, whether for better or worse that's something only the person who has changed can answer.

Julian needed fighting experience and now more than ever a way to become stronger. He was weak against the blacksmith so he was caught and exploited by them.

In the coming years, Julian registered as an adventurer searching though every region he could go, gradually going farther away from Healing Village. Sometimes he would wonder how his parents, relatives and the villagers were but that was all. The moment he stepped out of Healing Village ,he knew there was no turning back. No matter what difficulties were presented in-front of him, he would face them head-on.

His search landed him into a fighting gang. The fighting gang, Wolf Fang Gang had everything he was looking for: fighting experience, a means of coming in contact with the upper echelon of Arcane World and a way to increase his strength. The arena was brutal place because every fight could only have one winner, that is only one fighter could go home.

The Gang had the policy of bestowing their secret mana infusing technique to only the top brass of Wolf Fang Gang, if Julian became one of them then he would have a there was hope of finding a definite direction for the path of Healing Magics future development.

Julian entered the gang as a fighter for money. For every fight he won meant he earned a lot of cash. They had an age limit for a fighting circle so it was easy for Julian to win matches against opponents of same age with his immense strength. This did not go unnoticed by the members of Wolf Fang Gang]and soon started putting him through tough fights like making him fight an experienced fighter elder than him, Wolf Fang Gang members giving more advantages to his opponents and making him wear blindfold while fighting.

This was no all, they made him suffer in unimaginable ways trying to break him from inside and make him quit. He was tortured and beaten to a pulp without getting the chance of fighting back, always treated as trash by the members of Wolf Fang Gang. He endured it all for his dream to come true.

Julian prevailed through all the hardship he was made to go through.

After years of constantly winning every battle he fought, Wolf Fang Gang began to value him and at last he became a part of the top brass of Wolf Fang Gang.

It took years of fighting in the ring to reach this stage, which was plenty of time to observe the fighting style of other fighters and their way of using weapons. Julian especially observed the infusion of mana into weapons. He grasped some basic idea of it and tried it a few times but got disappointing results. He had waited for a long time to become a top brass of Wolf Fang Gang and get the technique.

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