Tristan conversed with the egg through the mind link. It told the egg about his own story, things that happened to him and his adventures. Tristan talked for a long time with the egg while continuing to climb.
After two days he had reached the four thousandth step. The soul itch was unbearable, but his conversation with Matrioshka Egg kept him sane. Without even stopping, Tristan continued climbing, slowly, but positively.
He told the egg about his childhood and his family, about earth, school and delicious meals. He told it about the sea and the sound of waves, how sand stuck in his shoes and the sound of cars. As his mental energy kept increasing very rapidly, he was even able to transmit images and smells and sounds. It was almost like he was talking to himself, wishing he could have that peaceful part of his life back.
Tristan talked about how the stars looked, he showed the egg the smell and taste of chocolate and other foods. He showed her about the time he went to the zoo and the thrills of disneyland rides and so on.
Four more days passed. He had reached the 5000th step. Tristan had been absent for a week now, and Neffy tried contacting him, but was sent to the voicemail saying he is busy on a mission. She asked Joanna, who said that he would often go on missions for weeks on end.
In the Vast Expanse secret world, people who had been monitoring Tristan's progress were dumbfounded.
"8 days in the Stairway and 5000 steps. I can only say this is a testament to his incredible willpower."
"Even if he hasn't reached the highest number of steps, he has already set the record for the longest time on the stairs."
"I hope his psyche isn't damaged." The Elder said.
The Elder had once gone through this stairway in this manner in his youth, and he had been affected by it for a long time afterwards by mental trauma and he worried for another talent going through the same thing.
When Tristan was continuing to climb, he was feeling tired. Physically as well as mentally. His Aura had been compressed by a tremendous amount - 75%. He was slowly walking, but he felt like he was beginning to drift away. At this moment, he felt an image from the egg. It sent an image which had two objects, the [Reality Depiction Illusory Painting] and the [Dutchman's Pipe].
It kept sending him some emotions he couldn't understand, but he thought for a bit and slowly took out the painting and the flute which the egg had shown him. Then the egg sent him another picture. It was Tristan, but Tristan as a young child like the memories he had sent the egg. The child Tristan had used the flute like a straw and sucked the color of the painting.
Tristan was finding it hard to think, but the image was constantly being sent to him and he finally acted. He took the flute and used it like a straw to suck from the painting.
Immediately a huge waved of mental energy flew into the flute and then a few notes began ringing, then the energy became extremely gentle and was absorbed into Tristan's body. Immediately he felt like the itching reduced. He continued to suck, the flute blowed notes and the mental energy became extremely gentle and entered Tristan's mind, repairing it.
At the same time, Tristan's mental energy soared and the itching subsided. Tristan finally felt fresh and revitalized. His psyche had been healed, though he could feel that the painting had become duller.
Yet, he looked at the [Dutchman's Pipe], shocked at its application. He connected to the egg and spoke. "Thank you Mush, if you hadn't told me about this I would've gone mad. Thank you for supporting me."
Then he received a message from the egg. "I'm hungry." Tristan fed it another fragment of energy. Then with a strong sigh, he began climbing again. This time he became faster as his mental strength had become stronger and the pressure wasn't enough.
Four days later, He had reached 6500 steps. and wasn't stopping. The Aura had compressed by a good bit, and the itch was slowly growing again, but he could tolerate it now. Instead, Tristan spent time talking to the egg, asking about its life while climbing.
The egg had a pretty long life, which also meant it was very boring for the most part, or fighting in the later parts. Tristan had nicknamed the egg Mush. Mush was quite interested in Earth, especially foods, so he would sent it memories of different kind of snacks.
After another four days, Tristan had reached 8000 steps. His Aura had compressed by 90%, he was already on the way to A grade, but he didn't want anything other than perfection.
Below people were already in awe. "He had long ago broken the record, but his movements are so paradoxical. How did he suddenly become faster?"
Tristan could feel the soul itch get very heavy again and used the painting once more along with the flute to heal his mind using the residual mental energy in the painting. The painting dulled even further, and Tristan's mind healed once more. His mental energy had increased rapidly and now reached an incredible 100 points. At this point he had reached a bottleneck.
In another four days, Tristan had crossed 9000 steps. His mental energy was at a bottleneck and he couldn't surpass it. Instead, the pressure was changing the quality of the mental energy. It was being compressed and layered, making it thicker. As the mental energy compressed, the energy value reduced, but the weight of the mental energy grew thicker. It would compress, and the energy would reduce, then it would increase to 100 again and begin compressing again to become thicker.
The Aura was compressing closer and closer and had now begun to become a thick coating around the heart., expanding and contracting with each heart beat.