GUARDIAN OF THE END

Jason's vision blackened, which was nothing new for him. He could tell that his body had been lifted off the ground and he was freely roaming around in the middle of who knows where.

Jason patiently waited for his vision to return and for his feet to land on solid ground. It took only a few minutes for that to happen.

'Is this a… beach?' Jason looked at his surroundings with a surprised expression.

He was standing on top of sand barefoot while the sounds of waves crashing against the shore echoed inside his ears.

In the distance, a wide blue ocean opened up. Jason had never seen such a large view from a beach before so this was a new experience for him.

[ Um, host… look at your clothes… ]

'What is wrong with my… oh.'

Jason found out that he was wearing swimming trunks. He hadn't wore one such thing for a long time.

'Well, its clear that this beach isn't made for simple enjoyment. I mean, look at that guy there.' Jason's eyes moved over to a person standing at the edge of the beach.

The person was wearing normal everyday clothes except they were from Earth. Jason immediately recognized the jeans and normal shirt wore by… he couldn't identify the gender of the person.

[ That's a she. Her face gives it away smh. ]

'It doesn't. I have read enough cultivation to know that people who generally are not too curvy and look extremely beautiful can be males as well.' Jason pointed out.

He slowly started walking towards the woman since there wasn't anything else for him to do.

[ You can go swim or explore the beach. ]

'And risk being stuck here for eternity? Thanks for the suggestion but no, I am not doing that.'

After walking for a few minutes, Jason reached the edge of the beach. He took in the woman's appearance and was surprised to see that she was… average by the standards of the other powerful people he had met.

She light brown hair that reached down to the beginning of her shoulders. Her eyes were of the same color, one you might forget after a few minutes.

Her body was averagely built and nothing about her stood out. If Jason wasn't living in another world, he might have taken her as a normal human walking around the world.

"The truth isn't always shining and golden, my dear." The woman suddenly said, her face turning in Jason's direction. "Reality is not what one expects it to be."

"That is true, I guess?" Jason replied, not sure whether he should to say something else or not.

"Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have started talking in that manner." The woman sighed. "I should have just let one of the people under my control do this."

"Uh, people under your control?"

"Don't think too much about them. They are just people who sacrificed themselves for a cause they believed to be the truth. They were wrong though." The woman shrugged.

Jason gulped nervously. He couldn't tell whether the woman was telling the truth or not.

"You might be wondering who I am," She said. "I guess I should have introduced myself. My name is Veritas and I am the goddess of truth."

"…" Jason was left stunned by this introduction.

It was quite hard for him to believe that someone so ordinary as the woman in front of him could be a goddess.

"I just stuck with my original appearance. I was born with this appearance and I have kept it over the years. After all, this is the best way to remain truthful to yourself." Veritas shrugged again.

"Then where you the one who had talked to me in the forest when I was undergoing the trial of fear?" Jason questioned, putting his guard up.

Though he had no idea whether he could even do anything to a goddess. Maybe Veritas would spit truth at him and make him miserable.

"No, that was not me. I know who it was but there is no point in telling you that." Veritas eyes lightly glowed with power. "Coming on to the main task. You can ask me any question you want and I will provide you the correct and truthful answer."

"Any question that I want?" Jason asked in a surprised tone.

"Yes, anything you want. You can ask me how you can become the strongest. You can ask me how to obtain a big harem of beautiful women. You can ask me how to become the richest person in the world.

Since I am the goddess of truth, I can answer your question easily with the correct answer. Though remember, you can only ask me a single question." Veritas explained.

Jason, who had originally planned to ask for his threshold to break out of the chamber, hesitated.

If he could get the answer for any question he asked…

[ Host, that answer would be useless if you can't leave the chamber. Do you want to be trapped here for eternity? ] The system questioned.

This seemed to bring Jason back to reality. He shook his head once to get rid of his thoughts before looking directly into Veritas's eyes.

"I want to know what limit I have to cross to exit the chamber of rebirth." He said in a clear voice.

"Looks like someone told you what to ask." Veritas smiled humorlessly. "If you had asked how can I exit the chamber, I would've answered with "you just have to break your limit" and would have vanished."

Hearing her words, Jason silently thanked his grandparents. Who knows what would have happened if he hadn't gotten to know his limit.

"Well, there are three things you have to break through. One is to reconnect with your guardian. Second is to advance your job classes. Third is to form bonds you never formed before." Veritas stated his limits.

Jason wanted to ask more things but he knew that the goddess wouldn't answer any of his questions.

"Jason, do you mind if I take a few minutes of your time before sending you off?" Veritas questioned.

"Ok…"

Veritas sat down and gestured for Jason to do the same. Both of them sat side by side and oversaw the ocean.

"Are you a sealed goddess?" Jason curiously asked.

"You do know that I am not obliged to answer any of your questions?"

"I know. I am just curious since I know that Phobos was trapped due to her powers. I was wondering whether the same thing happened to you." Jason shrugged. Veritas's shrugs had infected him as well.

"Well, I am chained as well. I just love to remind people of the truth but no one really likes that. People like illusions more." Veritas sighed.

"I mean that's obvious. Reality is often too plain, normal and boring." Jason replied, his eyes unconsciously moving over the goddess's body.

"Would you rather prefer this?" The goddess smiled before snapping her fingers.

Her clothes were suddenly replaced by a tight bikini swimsuit. Her breasts had grown bigger and her body had become more curvy.

Jason's jaw dropped after seeing such a transformation. It was at the level of a Dixney movie transformation of a nerd girl to the popular girl.

"I know people like this but they don't understand its impossible to get this. Well, not really impossible but its not exactly super easy." Veritas sighed and laid down on the sand.

Since she hadn't changed back, Jason found it pretty hard to not stare at her body. Veritas, of course knew this but the goddess didn't mind it.

In her eyes, Jason was just a small child whose age was extremely young as compared to hers. That plus the fact that the goddess had been bored for a long time and wanted to have someone to talk to.

It was also fun to tease the younger generation.

"Ahem… You want everyone to realize that no matter what happens, only the truth will emerge in the end?" Jason questioned with a fake cough.

"Indeed. I wonder how a child like you understands the simple truth that I want to tell." Veritas sighed.

"I think the others understood it as well but they didn't want to show it. People love to think that they are not living in the reality they are living in, if that makes any sense."

"It does." Veritas smiled. "Its not bad to talk to someone after so long."

"Maybe. I can't tell since I haven't really experienced it before." Jason replied.

"Anyways, its time for you to be on your way. I have to talk to two to three other people as well. I highly doubt that any of them will be able to talk like you did. None of them are reincarnated." Veritas sighed and stood up.

Jason stood up and met the goddess's gaze.

"You can look at me one last time before I send you away." Veritas teased with a smile on her face.

Jason, however, took her words seriously. It was not everyday one got to see a goddess in a bikini suit, that too the goddess of truth.

Veritas hadn't expected Jason to take her words seriously but since he did take her seriously, she nodded her head in appreciation.

After all, he was just showing his true nature as someone who was about to enter teenage for the second time.

Veritas even did a twirl on her spot which made Jason cough severely. But once that was over, the goddess reverted to her original self.

"Good luck. I hope you don't spend too much time in the chamber." She patted his head once before sending him off.

Jason once again vanished from his spot, not aware of where he was going next