Story about Julius' past

"But why don't you want to train me?" asked Michael.

"I am weak. I only have the 1st level of magical power, and I have also been unable to surpass the 9th rank for a long time," Julius replied. "Besides, I'm a baker, and I'm not the kind of trainer you need, Michael!"

"Why did you decide to give up on becoming stronger?" Michael asked.

"For you to understand everything better, I have to tell you almost everything from my life that I can remember right now," said Julius.

And so Julius began his story.

"I was born in a village called Aurorum, in a family that ran a café, or rather, a small local restaurant named after our family name—Furno. My father's name was Victor, and my mother's name was Selena. I also had four brothers and five sisters. I was the fifth eldest among the children. Each of us had our own role—some made pizza, others cooked different dishes, and I specialized in baking sweets. But one day, everything changed," Julius said, suddenly shifting his tone.

"What happened then?" Michael asked, intrigued by Julius's story.

"A disaster struck our village. A disaster that no one has been able to defeat for centuries. The Dragon of Calamities—Acnologia! When he flew, the entire village was destroyed and no longer exists on any map. Fortunately, I managed to escape, but my mother died that day. As for my father and the others, I have no idea what happened to them—I haven't seen them since that day," said Julius.

"Wow, that's really unfortunate," Michael said.

"It sure is," Julius replied. "After that, I wandered for several days in search of a new place to live and eventually came to this village. They gave me a place to stay, and then I determined my level of magical power. Like everyone else, I tried to achieve high results in tournaments. For several years, I participated, but I was never able to reach the 10th rank. And since I was only at the 1st level of magical power, the best I could do was participate in the 1st qualifying stage—the stage where 99 out of 100 players will be eliminated, and only a few move on to the 2nd stage. So, I decided that maybe I should return to what I did before—baking. And as you can see, everything is going well for me now."

"But still, please train me!" Michael insisted.

"No!" Julius replied.

"Oh, please, Mister Julius! I don't know anyone else who can teach me!" Michael pleaded.

"No!" Julius repeated.

"I only need the basics."

"Ugh! Fine! You won; you're not going to leave me alone anyway! But keep in mind, I'm a baker, not a fighter. I may not be much help to you," Julius said.

"Hooray, thank you!" Michael said excitedly.

"We'll meet tomorrow evening," said Julius.

"Alright!" Michael responded and headed home.

And when Michael was asleep, someone who also resided in a corner of his subconscious—but not his demonic version—spoke.

"Choosing a baker as your trainer is a very bad decision. It just shows how inexperienced and naive you are in making choices," the voice said. "So, Acnologia has become the strongest Calamity in the world, huh? I remember him as my childhood friend. I wonder what happened to him."