Blood of the Ancients

Yves suddenly remembered that he hadn't slept since he got here. It appears that any progress he makes resets every time he takes another step. The idea of touching the pens is increasingly more plausible, as now in Yves's journey he is only a few steps away from his goal.

Yves looked at the clock and saw how today marks four and a half years in this place. There were only six more steps until he reached the pens.

In the four and a half years Yves has done twenty-four steps, quickly ramping up the pace the last year and a half.

The last six steps are the hardest since for Yves's body, the pressure feels double the strength compared to the ones he already did.

Yves tried thinking about how the people he left behind don't know where he is, but thinking that brings down his spirits, and he doesn't want to appear again since he is scared of how they would treat him after disappearing for three months already. 

That singular thought has impaired his motivation for many days consecutively; however, no matter how bad it gets, it magically disappears. Yves has tried to understand how magically his mood changes, but the only logical reasoning is that Ink is doing this to prevent him from dying.

Yves is now two steps towards his goal. The clock hits six years, and he has stayed more than he wanted, but all of that wasn't of utter importance as Yves is two steps away from the pens. 

Yves's excitement reached a new max; his heart was racing, his pupils were dilated, and he never knew that being close to some pens would bring him so much excitement. 

Yves moved his right leg, and the pressure was something unimaginable; he had never felt something this strong. He could only stick his leg for less than a second, as he felt it would have been ripped off.

Yves, now realizing the challenge that was awaiting him, continued with his practice. His mobility in this world has gotten a lot better. He could jump and move his body freely through the room he had passed. 

Yves could do a slow sprint, but everything was progress for him. This routine helped Yves increase his speed of stepping into another level of pressure. Yves was frustrated that with every step he took, he lost the progress he made, but not everything was a con since he could now move.

Yves used his routine for an entire year since he couldn't pass through the pressure.

His anxiety increased as he felt that they would hate him more for lying to them.

Yves slapped himself and continued going; he tried to walk, and he felt how his entire body was trying its best to not collapse, but the progress he was making was keeping him from passing out.

Yves's entire body feels that it would collapse like a pancake, but he sees how his leg is about to touch the ground level; he perseveres.

Bang!!!

Yves heard a loud sound the second his leg touched the ground level. His first instinct was to think that one of his internal organs exploded due to the pressure, but he felt well with no pain, leading him to question what that explosion was.

Yves's body transformed back to its original self; he felt extremely happy but felt that it would take longer to reach the last step.

A brilliant idea popped into his mind: 'Why don't I just bend over and get it?'

Yves has tried this many times, but his monkey brain still wants to try.

Yves leaned over and was extremely surprised that he could lean. However, his leg was positioned far away so he couldn't reach it.

Yves extended as much as he could, leading him to lose his balance. Instinctively he moved his left leg to where his right leg is to regain balance.

"..." 

Yves was left speechless; he moved his leg without any training and with no pressure. He again moved his right leg closer to the pens, almost stepping on them, and he could move his leg without any complications. 

"Yay!!!" Yves started cheering, jumping, screaming, taking his shirt off, and waving it.

Yved looked at the clock.

"..."

Yves's face became pale; he saw how half a year passed by without him realizing it. The last time he checked appeared to be a few minutes ago, but in reality, six entire months passed by.

Yves, speechless, bent over and picked up the pens.

Boom!

Yves saw smoke appear in front of him and a familiar silhouette.

"Congratulations. I never thought you would achieve it that fast, and as a rew—"

"Fast, what are you talking about? I stayed here longer than expected!!" 

"Oh, I lied. I was realistically expecting you to be here for eighteen years, but you surpassed my expectations."

"..."

"And as a reward, I will allow you to choose one of the pens and their abilities, but don't worry, you will eventually achieve the rest." Ink smiled at a shocked Yves.

"The current level you are at is a D-rank, almost a C-rank." Ink excitedly grabbed the pen out of Yves's hand and collected all the pens on the floor.

"D-rank? So you mean, all of these to be a measly D-rank!!" Yves's consciousness returned after hearing that he was a D-rank.

"Well actually, you will eventually receive all of the training you get here, but right now you only get ten percent of the amount of training you did here." Ink again smiling continued to ruin Yves's emotions.

"So where is the rest going!!!" 

"That is a secret; you will figure it out in the future, so just get stronger." 

"..."

"Oh, before I forget, all the training you did in the real world will be transferred to you after leaving, so if you continue training at your current pace, you in a few months will be able to reach a low C-rank."

"Low C-rank! Is that even possible?" Yves's pent-up emotions started to surface once again.

"It's complicated, but here, just choose a color, and I will tell you what it does."

"I am about to explode, so tell me what each color does."

"Very well, but first your new level is called daydreamer."

"And what does that mean?"

"It means that you can create anything you want if you have enough mana and know how it's made. You were originally going to be a dreamer, which means you can create anything, but you first have to dream about it." Ink extended the pens close to Yves's face.

"Ok, but tell me what the pens do."

"The blue pen is the weapons pen, which creates any weapon; the black pen is the creation pen, which creates figures out of ink. The green pen is the healing pen, which means that with your ink, you can heal yourself and others. The pink pen is the mind pen, which makes you able to control someone's mind. The white pen is the magic pen, which will allow you to use simple magic. Finally, the red pen is the death pen, which allows you to see when someone will die."

"Am I going to do more with the ability of the pens when I go higher in your trials?" 

"Correct, they are all at their second lowest abilities settings. So all of these will get better the stronger you get."

Yves started to think carefully about his decision. He thinks about what benefits him the most, and there is one pen that is calling for him.

"Will I get all of them eventually? Right?" Yves asked, trying to justify his decision.

"Yes, so what are you going to pick?"

"Ahh, fuck it." Yves extended his hand and grabbed the black pen.

"Nice choice. I will teleport you back and implant you with the manual on how the powers work, so don't worry."