Chapter 235

A cascade of luminous texts bloomed before Kana’s eyes, floating like fragments of starlight in the air.

[You have leveled up!]

[Congratulations!]

[You have reached Level 30]

The words pulsed gently, radiant and calm, yet carrying a weight that made her chest tighten.

Then the next line unfolded, slower, heavier, like the turning of a great page in an unseen book.

[New classes available:]

[Blessed Ranger]

[Master Marksman]

[Nightblade Master]

[Moonlight Marksman]

[Dark Marksman]

[Nightblade Ranger]

[Ranger Master]

[Forest Huntress]

[Captain Ranger]

Kana blinked. Surprised. The list was too many.

Since they had no intention of slaying the dungeon boss, the group retreated the same way they had entered, footsteps echoing against stone and crystal. The dungeon’s oppressive presence slowly loosened its grip, replaced by the familiar rhythm of escape and survival.

Suri glanced back.

Kana had fallen behind.

“Kana, what are you doing?” she called.

Kana jolted and quickened her pace, boots scraping against the stone floor.

“Sorry,” she said, breathless. “Just… checking the text of god.”

Suri frowned,”Your reaction reminds me when you awakened in the village.. very suspicious.” 

She leaned in,whispered to Kana’s ears, “Tell me about it later.”

Kana ignored her. She was still focused on the list.

So many choices.

They said more options meant god favors you, more power, more opportunity. But standing before so many paths felt less like freedom and more like standing at the center of a storm, every direction pulling at her at once.

As they walked toward the dungeon’s entrance, torchlight flickering across the walls, Kana studied the glowing list again.

What she needed hadn’t changed.

She needed balance that could fight from both close and long range. Same as now. Blade and bow. Better though if she could use a sword. Her eyes settled on the first name.

[Blessed Ranger]

“Blessed…” she whispered. Divine power, perhaps. Holy skills. Support abilities. Maybe even miracles or conditioned based skills like Elle—

But blessings usually came with chains. Oaths. Churches. Altars. Gods who demanded obedience. However she was curious if it was still possible for her to get some kind of condition-based skills.

[Master Marksman]

This one made sense. She had killed more enemies using bow compared to her blade. But what would that cost her? She might be able to deal more damage especially  at long range but what about in melee fights? Would the system—text of god still let her use her blade?

Would she become only a warrior behind a bowstring? She couldn’t accept that. Melee fights after all were more thrilling.

[Nightblade Master]

Kana gulped imagining she could use all of the bladed weapons with this class. She was somehow confident—a confidence she didn't know where coming from. She simply had a feeling that if not for the text of god limitation, she could master all types of blade weapons in no time. Her fingers tightened. Additional raw strength and close combat dominance.

But the [Old Tempest Bow], the king’s first reward, a powerful bow might become little more than decoration. She wasn’t sure if she could still use a bow if she decided to go with this class.

The thought made her chest ache.

Very enticing… but dangerous.

She moved on.

[Moonlight Marksman]

Probably similar to the [Master Marksman] though it must be more powerful at night. But again, the same question echoed in her mind.

What about the blade?

Especially at the current age, she only met a few long range powerful fighters that could deal physical damage.

[Dark Marksman]

The word dark alone made her uneasy. She would probably gain some sort of shadow power like the class [Assassins].

And still, the same fear. Distance without melee weapon.

Then her gaze stopped.

[Nightblade Ranger]

Her heartbeat slowed.

Blade and bow.

Both written.

This class felt like it was speaking her language. But the word Night lingered like a shadow at the edge of a torch’s light. Would her power fade in the sun? Would she become weaker under daylight skies?

She sighed. The text of god offered no answers.

Uncertainty wrapped around the class like fog.

Next.

[Ranger Master]

Her original class. An evolution. This felt safe. Logical. Familiar.

An upgrade rather than a transformation. It stood firmly on her mental list.

Then—

[Forest Huntress]

Her eyes lit with curiosity.

Huntress.

Tracking. Survival. Control of terrain. Taming, maybe.

According to the books, [Hunter] could bind beasts, command animals or beasts but was limited to sky creatures. However she felt that this class would probably not just be limited to taming flying creatures.

The idea stirred something quiet but powerful inside her.

And finally—

[Captain Ranger]

Leadership. Command. Authority. These three words were the first words that came to her mind.

An upgrade from Ranger, but one that reshaped her role entirely. No longer just a fighter. A commander. A leader.

Kana exhaled slowly.Her fingers hovered in the air.

Not yet.

Not until she understood who she needed to become.

….

They reached the safe zone faster this time.

Their steps no longer hesitated at every shadow. Their eyes no longer flinched at every echo. The air still felt heavy, still tasted faintly of dust and old magic, but their bodies moved with the quiet confidence of people who had already survived what should have killed them.

Even so—

Adam somehow still triggered a hidden trap especially when Kana was focusing her attention elsewhere. 

A sharp click echoed from the stone.

A thin wire snapped.

A burst of compressed air shot from the wall, scattering dust and pebbles across the corridor.

“ADAM—!” someone shouted.

Kana didn’t even react in time.

Not because she was slow. Not because she wasn’t alert. But because her mind wasn’t in the dungeon anymore.

It was somewhere else.

Floating between glowing words. Still pondering which was the best path to take.

The safe zone welcomed them again. The oppressive weight of the dungeon thinned the moment they crossed the boundary.  They returned to the camp they had built earlier with different supplies in every corner.

Suri didn’t hesitate.

She knelt, struck flint to steel, and coaxed a flame into being. The fire bloomed, small at first, then steady, then strong. Light spilled outward, painting the stone walls gold and amber, pushing the shadows back into their corners.

The others sagged into rest. Potions were uncorked. Liquid light slid down throats. HP potions were quite rare and expensive so stamina potions would be enough for now. After all, none of them was seriously hurt.

Armor straps loosened. Weapons were leaned against stone. Breathing slowed down.

Suri skewered meat and held it over the fire, fat dripping and sizzling as it hit the flames.

The smell filled the air.

Rich. Savory. Heavy.

Thorne stood a few steps away, pretending not to stare. 

Hesitating as the memory of Suri before resurfaced, tearing and biting a lizard similar to her..

Something about that image had lodged itself deep in Thorne’s mind.

Kana lowered herself onto a stone near the fire.

The heat brushed her face.

The light danced across her armor. She exhaled. Just a long, heavy breath, like air escaping a tightly sealed room.

Elle saw it.

Not the sigh.

The weight behind it.

The way Kana’s shoulders slumped. The way her gaze didn’t focus on anything real.

The way her fingers twitched faintly, as if touching something only she could see.

Elle leaned closer,“You really want to kill that huge white monster that badly?”

Kana didn’t answer immediately.

Before she could, Suri spoke, mouth already full.

“She’s always like that,” Suri said, chewing. “Wants to kill every dungeon boss and hopes some random dungeon item will drop—”

She froze. The meat was too hot. Her cheeks puffed out. She blew frantically through her lips, eyes watering, making soft panicked sounds as steam escaped her mouth.

The fire crackled louder.

Thorne flinched, still hesitating whether to approach Suri or not.

Kana stared into the flames.

Not at the fire.

At the reflections inside it.

The text of god and the classes she must select. She sighed again and wished there was an indicator if it's a powerful class or not. A category perhaps, description would be better.

Yuri spoke quietly, “I think that kind of event is very rare.”

She took a sip from her potion, eyes half-lidded, “Unless you’re raiding the fruit dungeon.”

Silence followed.

Kana watched the flames shift and curl.

Each spark rose, glowed, and vanished.

She stared at them again.

[Blessed Ranger]

[Master Marksman]

[Nightblade Master]

[Moonlight Marksman]

[Dark Marksman]

[Nightblade Ranger]

[Ranger Master]

[Forest Huntress]

[Captain Ranger]

The realization came softly. Not like a revelation. More like a thread tightening in her mind.

Kana’s eyes drifted back to the glowing list of classes, the names hovering behind her vision like afterimages burned into glass.

Half of them. Night. Shadow. Dark. Moonlight.

She frowned. Why are so many tied to the night?

The question stirred something loose in her memory. Then the past began to surface, not as words, but as scenes. Moonlight glinting off stone as they raided their first dungeon under a dark starry sky. Well, almost all of their dungeon raids happened at night. Then the incident with the shadow-man, the clash with him happened as well at night.The imperial assassins hunting her through one of the empire cities where almost their encounters happened at night.The lich. The chase and the initial clash happened at night.

Even now…

She glanced instinctively upward, though there was only stone and magic above them.

It should be night outside already. Her breath slowed.

So the system—text of god isn’t just simply bestowing random classes…

It’s tracking patterns. Timing. Behavior. Environment.

The idea settled into place with quiet certainty.

Every action leaves a mark.

Every habit leaves a trail.

Her gaze shifted to Suri and then Boris. They sat near the fire, silhouettes carved in flame-light. She studied them carefully, as if trying to read invisible text above their heads.

If they get night-based classes too… Then I’m right. But she kept the thought to herself.

Kana exhaled and shook her head, grounding herself in the present. The fire popped. The smell of roasted meat curled through the air.

Everyone was eating now. Chatting softly. Resting.

She trimmed the classes list until the ones that still allowed both sides to exist. A class that could be equipped with melee and a long range weapon.

[Blessed Ranger]

[Nightblade Ranger]

[Ranger Master]

[Captain Ranger]

Her gaze settled on [Captain Ranger]. The safest choice. The logical choice. The smart choice. The moment the thought formed, something changed. The atmosphere behind her felt heavier. Not pressure. Not sound.

But presence.

A subtle tightening between her shoulders. A cold awareness sliding down her spine like a thin blade of ice. Her muscles tensed.

Slowly, she turned. Old crimson stone wall. Firelight.

Nothing else.

Her heartbeat slowed again. She gulped. Her thought focused on the class [Ranger Master]. Probably the evolved or the second class of her current class.

The chill returned. Sharper this time. Colder. Like a fingertip tracing her spine.

She turned her head faster.

Still nothing.

Her breath fogged faintly in front of her lips. It was supposedly hot inside the dungeon but strangely she felt very cold.

She hesitated. Then thought of [Blessed Ranger].

The reaction was immediate. A stronger wave. A deeper cold. A warning etched into her nerves. Her body reacted before her mind. Shoulders stiff. Jaw tightening.

She paused before turning.

Then looked. Nothing again. Only stone. Only firelight. Her heartbeat quickened.  Her fingers curled into her palm.

Then she thought of the last one.

[Nightblade Ranger]

She closed her eyes. Braced. Waited. Nothing came. No chill. No pressure. No unease. No warning.

Instead…

A strange silence. Like calm water after a storm. Her breath left her slowly. Whatever had been reacting… Whatever had been watching… Agreed to the last class. Or was it her simply imagining things?

Kana scratched the back of her head, confused, unsettled, and slowly stood up and checked her back one more time.

Nothing again so she turned around. The entire group had gone quiet. Suri paused mid-bite. Elle lowered her potion. Thorne though was still moving and eating the food from the ground.

All of them were staring at her.

Leo spoke first, voice low, careful,“Kana… are you alright?”

Toby suddenly stood up, pointing at her like he’d solved a mystery, “I heard some people go mad after entering dungeons,” he said. “That’s one of the symptoms.”

Post note:

[Nightblade Ranger] it is?!

Hope you enjoy the chap! 🙂