## 1. The Price of the Journey
Hiroshi's question — "What do I need to get to the Black Lake?" — hung in the cold morning air, echoing the silence of the hill of cruelty. Bella stared at him, the determination in her slanted eyes mixed with a deep reluctance.
"You need two things," she replied, turning to descend the hill. "Supplies and a **Class**."
Back in the village, Bella acted with silent efficiency. She traded Hiroshi's silk tunic for a sack of grain and some medicinal herbs, confirming the fabric's value. Then, she equipped him with simple, dark clothes, made of rustic leather and linen, and handed him a short-bladed hunting knife.
"You have no Class, no Power," she said, bluntly. "You are dead weight. I'm only doing this because... because hope is a contagious disease, and you brought it to this village."
The contrast between Hiroshi's determination and his complete lack of skill was stark. He was an idealist forced to become a warrior, but without the tools.
## 2. The Status Revelation
While Bella prepared the rest of the supplies, Hiroshi sat by the edge of the extinguished bonfire, trying to understand the word "Class." It was a term that seemed to belong to a game, not the brutal reality he was living. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the feeling of lightness he had felt upon waking.
*Class. Power. Status.*
He forced his mind, imagining a screen, a menu, anything that made sense. And then, it happened. It wasn't a light or a sound, but a cold, metallic **sensation** that materialized in his mind.
A translucent interface, with characters that seemed to be a mixture of his native language and unknown symbols, floated in his mental vision.
| **Name:** | Hiroshi |
| :--- | :--- |
| **Level:** | 0 |
| **Class:** | [Undiscovered] |
| **Attributes:** | STR: 3, DEX: 5, CON: 4, INT: 18, WIS: 12 |
| **Skills:** | Archaeology (Inactive), Linguistics (Common) |
The shock was paralyzing. **Level: 0**. His attributes were pathetic, except for **INT** (Intelligence), which was high, a remnant of his life as a scholar. He was, literally, a zero. A Level 0 in a world where survival was measured in strength. The Karius Sword, which multiplied the Level by a hundred, would make **0**... **0**.
Despair hit him, but was quickly replaced by a cold determination. If he was Level 0, he would have to change that.
## 3. The Departure and the Village's Shadow
They left before noon, avoiding the strongest sun. Bella led the way, moving with the silent grace of a wild animal. Hiroshi tried to keep up, the hunting knife heavy at his waist.
"Bella, what do you know about the Karius Sword? What is the monster?", Hiroshi asked, trying to break the oppressive silence.
Bella didn't stop, nor look back. "Silence. You don't talk, you observe. The monster is the Guardian. It's what the King uses to keep the legend alive and hope dead."
As they walked away, Hiroshi looked back at the village. He saw the shadow of the hill of cruelty looming over the mud houses. He saw the passive fear on the faces of the people watching them leave. He felt the cold anger that drove him. Passivity was the true enemy.
## 4. The First Danger and the Lesson
The journey followed a narrow, rocky trail. The first danger came in the form of three Goblins, small creatures with greenish-gray skin and red eyes, armed with wooden clubs.
They appeared suddenly, grunting. Hiroshi's instinct made him stumble backward.
Bella acted in a blink of an eye. Her bow glowed emerald. Three arrows, one after the other, hit the Goblins in the head and chest. They were not ordinary arrows; they were magical energy projectiles that disintegrated the creatures into a cloud of greenish smoke.
Hiroshi, still panting, tried to draw his knife, uselessly.
"You are slow," Bella said, retrieving her bow. "And noisy. You would have died three times."
"I tried to help!", Hiroshi protested.
"Don't try. Just obey. In this world, morality is a luxury only the strong can afford. Survival is the only rule. If you die, hope dies with me. Understood, Level Zero?"
The lesson was brutal. The words "Level Zero" hit him like a slap. He was useless. He was a burden. He had to change. He put away the knife, shame and determination mixing in his chest. The journey continued in silence.
## 5. The Arrival at the Black Lake
They walked for hours, the sun setting on the horizon and painting the sky with shades of red and purple, colors that seemed strangely inappropriate for the approaching darkness. The silence between them was broken only by the sound of their footsteps and the rustling of the vegetation.
At nightfall, they arrived at the Black Lake.
The name was literal. The waters were a deep, opaque tone, still, reflecting the imminent darkness. The atmosphere was heavy and cold, a stark contrast to the blazing sun of the morning. There was no visible life on the lake's surface, only a sinister stillness. It was a place that seemed to suck the light and hope out.
Bella stopped at the edge, her eyes fixed on the mist hovering over the water.
"Others have tried," she said, her voice low.
Hiroshi looked around. Scattered along the shore were traces of failed attempts: pieces of broken armor, corroded by time, and clean white bones, some animal, others undeniably human. The legend was real, and the price of failure was visible.
## 6. The Cave Entrance and the Guardian
Bella pointed to the rocky slope on the other side of the lake.
"The cave is there. It's a crack in the rock, almost invisible. The monster that guards it is the **Stone Guardian**. They say it's immune to the plague, made of living rock, and that the King uses it to keep the Karius legend alive, but unreachable."
She turned to Hiroshi, her expression hard.
"I brought you this far. My mission ends at the shore. I am an archer, not a cave warrior. And I will not die for a legend."
The revelation was a shock, but not a surprise. Bella was pragmatic, and the risk was incalculable.
"You have to go alone," she continued. "If you get the sword, come back. If not... I will wait for one day. Then, I will return to the village."
Hiroshi looked at the lake, at the darkness of the cave, and at his mental **Status**: **Level: 0**. He was about to face a monster that terrified even the King.
He remembered the abandoned child, the silver soldiers, the crucified man. Passivity was the true enemy. He couldn't go back.
He took the hunting knife from his waist, the only object that connected him to the fight.
"Wish me luck, Bella," he said, his voice firm.
He began to walk around the edge of the Black Lake, towards the dark crack.
Bella just watched, the emerald bow in her hands.
Hiroshi stopped at the cave entrance. The air inside was cold and dense, smelling of mold and death. He looked back one last time, at Bella's silhouette on the shore.
He took the first step into the darkness.
**Level Zero** against the Guardian. The idealist against reality.
The chapter ends with the sound of his footsteps echoing in the emptiness of the cave.