Alistair woke up and found himself inside a white room. The room was sealed entirely without any door or window, and oddly it didn't have a speck of dust.
It was filled with countless floating yellowish-white lights floating. The 360 degrees' vision helped Alistair realize that he was also a white ball.
As there was no means for measuring the time, it was both depressing and hollow. Slowly few of the souls started to dim out and fade; this process continued on for a long time.
The torturous silent would drive anyone to the verge of insanity; an extreme test to one's patience and willpower.
After who knows how long all the souls except Alistair vanished. Alistair sometimes felt like aeons passed since his death, but at times it would feel like just a few years has passed by; it was very confusing and driving him crazy.
The only reason he was able to survive was his strong will and curiosity. Immediately after the last soul vanished Alistair heard an ancient senile voice
"Congrats on passing the test."
After that, there was a short pause; Alistair was left wondering.
"I know you have any questions, but I'm running short of time. So just listen carefully and consider the options given to you before answering."
Without giving Alistair any time to provide the response, the old man continued.
"I'm Earth's Guardian. Each planet would have its own guardian who is responsible for safeguarding the planet."
"Both the Planet and Guardian are interdependent and interrelated. Guardians derive many powers from the world; the only limitation is that they can't possess emotion or conscious or soul.
To put it simply, we are like a set of programs that will be executed in different scenarios."
The old man said as if he was stating well-established facts.
"But I'm an exception I have emotions and soul. I'm the only guardian with conscious and soul in the universe, which is a result of an accident. Now let me tell you the reason for testing you. Many aeons ago, Earth was the world's strongest planet in the whole universe."
"Back then, Earth was the heart of the whole universe and holy land for cultivators. All the top clans, sects, and other influence had their headquarters on Earth."
"Like all good things must come to an end, Earth faced a very tough trial. A mega explosion took place near Earth, which gave birth to a Cosmic black hole.
Only when the planet nearest to Earth was devoured did everyone realized the magnitude of the disaster. To save their precious cultivation holy land, all powerhouses across the universe joined hands, temporarily setting aside their grudges and differences."
"It was perceived that with all powerhouses to boot the can win over anything. Blinded by their arrogance, all rushed to the core of the cosmic black hole to destroy it.
Reality wasn't going to go easy on them, and in a matter of minutes, everyone died. But they didn't sacrifice themselves in vain. After devouring Earth, the Cosmic Black Hole closed and suddenly vanished from the face of the universe."
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Narrating everything in one breath, the old man let out a long sigh filled with a myriad of complex emotions.
"I somehow survived that disaster with broken Earth's core and got stuck in the void current. The void current was filled with dead souls of the powerhouses and treasures that they had before death.
A white box floating in the space; a sudden suction sucked everything in the Void Current, including the dead souls, treasures, Damaged Core, and me."
"Only then I realized that the Cosmic black hole was actually caused by this White Box's birth. The Cosmic Black Hole vanished only because of devouring enough power to support the white box."
"After entering the box, all the dead souls miraculously merged with me, and the treasures with the Earth's core. The souls that merged gave me a soul, conscious, and emotions."
"Even this miracle couldn't completely heal the planet, and the once prestigious Earth reduced to the lowest level of the world in the universe. Moreover, Earth could not unite with the universe because of my existence. A guardian with consciousness was defiance of the natural order."
"Without Universe's, Will Earth will be certainly meet its end. So to safeguard our planet I'll self-destruct, and things will go order.
After my death, the Earth would face numerous natural calamities to of set the imbalances in the planet. But after achieving equilibrium Earth would be integrated itself with the universe as the weakest world."
"Nevertheless, I would have completed my duty as a Guardian. Though I'm not afraid of death, the knowledge that was left by the people who sacrificed their lives trying to save the Earth should not be lost."
"Hence, I have two missions for you. The first mission, you must inherit the entire legacy. The second mission is to find suitable discipline or owner for some specific inheritance."
"You'll have two challenges; Firstly, the inheritance can be completely irrelevant because I roughly estimated a minimum of 50 million years should have passed.
Secondly, you cannot drop out any part of the legacy before achieving the same level as their owner.
"Now make your choice after careful consideration. If you accept, then you would be reborn in some other planet with the inheritance and the White box after it merges with your soul. If you reject, then I would erase your memory and sent you back to Earth."
Alistair was smart and figured the crux of the problem. The secret behind his success was his meticulous calculations and cautious approach.
'So the inheritance will have deviated from the present and a bit outdated. Huh…In short, I can't concentrate on a single path and the inheritance will be outdated.'
'Anyway I don't have much to do in Earth and so let's go on a new adventure.'
"Okay, Mr Guardian, I will accept your offer." Alistair decided to accept after long contemplation.
"hahaha, I really did not select the wrong person. You are really a valiant and compassionate person" the old man laughed and praised Alistair.
If any of Alistair's enemy were to hear this, they would be coughing litres of blood. Alistair was the cruellest and most conceited person they ever knew.
"In case you are curious about your selection, I picked a particular second before I lost my powers and bought all people who died at that exact second to the white box and then filtered those who did moral acts at their last second.
Then I tested their willpower by keeping their soul in isolation until only one remained. This is how you were selected. I'm satisfied with you so congrats my INHERITOR."
"After I die, my soul will merge with the white box, but my will would return to Earth for creating a new guardian. So the soul formed in the white box is essentially a separated being not in the least bit connected to me.
Even after long research, I failed to find out what are its functions all I could do is either enter or exit. So this treasure is for you to explore but don't underestimate this box. It surely has some terrifying secrets hidden waiting for you. I'm not sure after how long you would be reborn, but you will undoubtedly be reborn."
After the guardian's voice vanished, the whole white room started to disintegrate into tiny white particles and entered Alistair's soul. This was an excruciating process at least a hundred times worse than Roy's training.
It felt like superheating the whole body and then puncturing it with ice-cold needles it will sooth the heat, but the pain of piercing went to the deepest part of the soul.
Alistair couldn't bear the pain, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't faint. After a long time, the torture ended while sending him into a deep coma.