Rishi looked at him from top to bottom before looking at him in the eyes and pping, "I agree with you."


    Hearing this, the expression of the figure changed. At first, a puzzled expression appeared, but soon his smile disappeared. He looked at Rishi. "Are you making fun of me? How dare you?" heunched himself at Rishi, his dagger dancing through the air and attacking Rishi from many sides.


    Multiple cuts appeared on Rishi''s body, forcing him to retreat. The figure licked his cold dagger, and its eyes fell on Rishi, who looked confused.


    "This idiot," he facepalmed himself. "Why is she not with you if you agree with me? When was thest time you saw her? You don''t love her; you only care about benefits."


    Rishi covered his wounds before replying, "It''s not like that; I love her. It''s just that love is not about possession; you can''t keep her with you like a doll. She is also a human; she has her own needs and likes."


    Hearing it, the figure got more enraged. The dagger swung again, and more cuts appeared on Rishi''s body. "Same bullshit. Why wouldn''t she be happy with me? Don''t I love her more than anyone? I could get her everything she wants in her bedroom. Why does she need to be away from me? Is it not best if we both are together always?"


    Covered in blood, Rishi bit his tongue and said, "It''s not like that, you animal. Love is all about trust and freedom. If it were any other girl, you might have had a chance, but with Kajal, you can''t put her in a cage. She is a free bird that wants to explore the sky; she would not be happy inside a cage. She w...."


    He wanted to continue, but the other self didn''t give him any chance. As he was about to be stabbed, he moved his palm forward, making the dagger pierce through it. He then caught the hand of the figure and used his other elbow to smash his head. ''Who knew a hand-to-handbat lesson woulde in handy like this?''


    "Argh," he said as he removed the dagger and threw it away. He then held the figure in jiu jutsu lock and said, "Let meplete my sentence now. She will escape if you try to put her in a cage, and you might not be able to catch her when she starts flying."


    The figure held captiveughed, "It''s so easy, I will cut her feath.." He had not evenpleted, ''smash'' he got punched. A series of blowsnded on him, making him vomit blood.


    "What did you say? You would hurt her. You bastard, look how much you have fallen," said Rishi as he kept beating him, only stopping after getting tired.


    "How can I hurt her?" The reflection became blurry. It was about to disappear when Rishi held him. "I am sorry. Listen, Bro., I know your love is pure, but you should understand you can''t force it."


    The figure looked back, confused. He soon received a warm hug from Rishi. "Don''t worry, I will take good care of her. I promise you."


    Tears welled up in his eyes as he heard it. "I am sorry; I didn''t want to be this way," he said, sobbing loudly. "I hope you keep your promise; I don''t want to be like that again."


    "I will," said Rishi. The next moment, the ck mist washed away, and an identical figure appeared who merged with Rishi. A bright light illuminated around him, and he felt as if he had changed.


    The area around him changed, and he found himself in the middle of nowhere. He was sitting on an ancient stone, flying in the air. He heard a voice inside his head. [Close your eyes and meditate on yourself. The trial is over. The more focused you are, the stronger will be your astral seed.]


    Rishi closed his eyes and followed her advice. He was used to meditating, so it was not hard for him. He started focusing on his breath and then on his inner self, then on his body, after which he started to focus on his consciousness.


    It took a long time before he sensed a divine light entering his body and moving towards his head. There it was, entering a small, marble-sized orb that was increasing in size and brilliance. He continued this process for minutes and hours before getting lost in it.


    The more the orb grew, the more rity he got in life; he felt like his existence itself increased. It was a door that had opened that had changed his perspective of the world and how he perceived his surroundings; it was as if he was able to see through the Maya (materialistic illusions) of the world and see the real world.


    He continued to absorb more divine radiance. As a limited-size cup couldn''t be filled with more water, he also reached the limit. After which, his soul was not able to absorb any more divine radiation; it started glowing brilliantly before it transformed.


    As he opened his eyes, he could feel that a new sense followed with each action. It was a limited area in which he could persuade things to a deeper level. It was his divine sense. His body started glowing next, and the Divine Radiance started merging with him, transforming his body and changing him internally.


    It continued for some time; he felt the warmth inside and around his body. As if something were transforming him at a cellr level, the surprising part was that there was no pain involved in this process.


    He found that his body had been strengthened a little, but that was not the main part. His mana heart, mana veins, and life force heart blend naturally with his body. They have be a part of him. The Divine Radiance also nurtured them and made them tougher.


    [Congrattions, Challenger; you have formed the seed of the astral soul. You have to slowly nurture it; this will benefit you in the long run. It''s also the key to advancing to the next stage.]


    Rishi nodded his head, and a smile appeared on his face. Finally, he was able to advance to the Epic Stage; it was only now that people would start taking him seriously. He started thinking about the things that he would be able to use now; one of them was the third mode of his zone.


    [Reaching the epic stage means that you have conquered your emotions and are now fit to strive to a higher level. At this moment, you are inplete equilibrium. Make sure to learn from this trial and now get controlled by your emotions.


    You have broken the threshold of the above-average score in this region. Your reward is better ss Options. You can now select a secondary job ss, ording to your score.


    The job sses avable for you are:


    1.) Beast Raiser (Epic): Increase the chances of sessful evolution and gain insight from the world to solve the mysteries of hidden evolutions. Increase the breeding rate of all the beasts under you.


    2.) Craftsman (semi-Epic): Craft powerful artifacts that could let anyone be way stronger than their original capabilities.


    3.) Arcanist (semi-legendary): Solve the mysteries of the Arcane Magic and be a powerful sorcerer. It will boost the strength of all your spells.


    4.) Runic Smith (semi-legendary): crafting runes and using them to delve into thews of the world, increasing the inscribing speed and the power and time of disappearing of the inscribed rune.


    Rishi looked at them, and for one moment, he was confused about which to select. It took him some time to decide which one to pick. This job ss was most suitable for current him; a smile appeared on his face as he looked at the ss with the most possibilities.