Shortly after, the strange book dissipated in the midair as if it didn't exist in the first place.
And then all of a sudden, as if some sort of magic had been cast onto that man, he levitated in the midair and remained suspended.
At first, the man was surprised at the sudden occurrence, but when the height where he levitated went higher and higher, he started screaming at his loudest as if he was not a man, but a lady.
The sudden occurrence made it well obvious. He was afraid of heights.
''What the hell, he is flying...'' People gasped in disbelief, each with their own opinions in the form of hushed chatter. Some people deemed it a good thing, but some of them thought that it was scary.
That said, some of them flinched back, trying to put a distance away from the stone statue.
Still, quite a lot of them remained curious as they stood close to the statue to watch. Who knew, perhaps that thing would bring them a likable surprise? If, instead, it would only bring them harm, it wouldn't be too late for them to run away.
''Who wants to try next?'' Someone suddenly spoke. His name was Jonas, the one standing closest to the stone statue. And by the looks of it, this person was a figure of authority and fear in the village.
He saw clearly what happened to that man earlier. And that strange book that gave off a feeling of both awe and apprehension... He wanted to know what in the world that was.
And for that to happen, he needed more test subjects. He must encourage others to touch the stone tablet to uncover its mysteries.
''No one wants to try?'' Jonas asked again, his gaze swept around the swarm of people encircling the statue.
No one stood to step up, their gazes even turned away. He could tell that all of them wanted others to test it out first and see what exactly that stone statue could do.
Jonas' face darkened. He could tell what the people of the village were thinking. And he was displeased that no one dared to step up as a test subject.
''You, over there! Come here!'' Jonas suddenly pointed at a random person. To his joy, that person was a certain nobody. No one would be angry at him even if he used this person the way he pleased.
''What? Why me?'' Fidgeting, that certain unlucky young man pointed to himself as he replied and forced out a smile. Even if it was great that someone could suddenly fly away after touching the stone statue, he still didn't know the downside of it.
What if he suddenly fell from a high place and died on the spot?
Or what if he was brought up into the clouds, never again to come down?
No matter what, it would be a good thing if other people tried it first before him.
Kick.
But to his shock, someone suddenly kicked him from behind, the force sending him stumbling forward. He raised his head, and to his another shock, he was now in front of Jonas, whose body had as if become a towering mountain.
Then he heard people constantly harassing him and forcing him to do something he didn't want.
''Go, you useless bastard!''
''Try and touch it already!''
''No, don't look at me...'' The unlucky fellow went pale. He wanted to cry or dig a hole to bury himself alive now.
What he wanted was to avoid everyone's attention. But now that everyone was looking at him with different fiery gazes, his body only froze on its own.
His fear of facing people began acting up.
But before he could say anything more, Jonas grabbed the back of his clothes and lifted him like a puppy.
Then Jonas placed him before the stone statue, enough for that unlucky man to touch the stone tablet with his face.
After a few heartbeats, his face shone faintly, and the light parted from him soon after. Then another book formed from the light, revealing the same short message.
[The conquest of fear will now begin...]
[First Trial: Master's Quest]
[Conquer your greatest fear.]
Jonas didn't understand it, but the unlucky young man did. Then, as if some kind of magic had been cast onto him, the unlucky young man's entire body suddenly began emitting a strange yellowish glow.
''Ugh, my eyes...'' Jonas couldn't help but cover his eyes with his other hand. He covered it not because it was dazzling, but because his senses didn't want to take his eyes off of him.
Why would this bastard glow like this all of a sudden?
Not only Jonas, but all the people out there who saw the glowing young man couldn't help but have their attention being attracted. As if that young man had just become the star of the show.
''You can go now,'' In the end, Jonas put him down. He faced his back against him, trying to avoid seeing that strange glow again. He didn't know why, but that glow was attracting his very attention. And his gut feeling was telling him to avoid it.
''Fuck, don't look at me, everyone!'' The unlucky young man finally began shedding tears. He was always afraid of being seen to gather attention. He was afraid of everyone looking at him at the same time.
But now that he was glowing, and that glow could naturally attract everyone's attention, how else could he possibly avoid this calamity?
In the end, the unlucky young man ran away. As if he was a lady whose virginity had been robbed away by a pervert.
Meanwhile, Jonas was starting to get the gist of it. He was starting to understand the nature and capability of the stone statue.
But he needed more test subjects to confirm his conjecture. As such, he made other people touch the stone statue again.
Different results came up. One of the people who tried to touch the stone statue became invisible. He was someone he knew the best. His friend who always sought attention. And he knew that this guy was afraid to be alone.
But now that he became invisible, he became completely alone. His greatest fear.
On the other hand, one of the people began emitting strong winds, another was fire. There was also someone who could summon rats out of her body.
After seeing all of these, a lot of people were scared away and left that place. Until only a few of them remained rooted to watch the unfolding event.
Then someone touched the stone statue again. Someone afraid of her father summoned the doppelgänger of her deceased father and began trembling.
She ran away as her father chased after her with a slipper ready to wallop her butt.
Others then tried it out too.
But on the tenth attempt, Jonas finally decided to try it out himself. He now completely understood what the stone statue could do.
It was able to manifest one's greatest fear and enable people to use it as their magical power.
As ridiculous as it was, it appeared like that was the case.
As for him... Jonas wasn't oblivious to his greatest fear. He took a long deep breath before he finally decided to touch the stone tablet.
The ancient book he expected to appear came appearing in front of him and then flipped open before him. But this time, he was able to understand the words written on it. In addition, he was now also able to read the words written on the stone tablet, as they were written in the same language.
FEAR.
It was written.
In any case, Jonas started to read the words revealed by the book. He couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows.
[The conquest of fear will now begin...]
[First Trial: Master's Quest]
[Conquer your greatest fear.]
As he expected, it was something like that. But to think that there was actually a mission behind it. And it was to conquer his greatest fear. To think that it was more complicated than what he expected.
Would he be able to complete this trial? Thinking about his greatest fear, Jonas nodded his head and readied himself for the next moment to come.
Since he was afraid of lightning, he would be able to manifest it and use its power, right? That would be a good ability if he really managed to conquer his fear.
''Oh? So, there's really a human who can summon a higher being like me using the Fragment of Fear, huh?''
However, in the next moment, Jonas suddenly heard a cold and sinister voice coming behind him. His heart skipped a beat, his face broke with a cold sweat. Then the sinister voice spoke again.
''How unpleasant. I feel like wanting to kill you, right here, right now.''
Streaks of unfortunate memories flashed within Jonas' mind. His body trembled, his face went exceedingly pale.
Only then did he recall something he'd long forgotten. Something he tried to bury deep in the river of a painful past.
''A demon...?'' Jonas gasped with a cold breath. He thought that he was not afraid of such a myth anymore. He even beat up people who tried to scare him with such a story when he was still a boy, to the point that no one dared to mess with him any longer.
But what in the world was this now? A demon was right there behind him. He hadn't seen one in the past, but he was certain of it.
A demon must be there to give him torment!
_____________________
Name: Jonas De Guzman
Status: Challenger
Title: None
Ability To Conquer: Demon
_____________________