Still wrapped up in his own thought's trying to think up a way to get out of his promise with his sister Rion didn't realise that they had arrived at the training grounds until the loud voice of his father brought him out of his musings.
"You're late!"
Rion snapped out of his thought's and looked at his father who was staring at him and Valenia with a disappointed look on his face.
Normally Nialan was a cheerful and doting father but when it came to training his personality did a full 180 becoming like a drill sergeant meaning he was strict and stern.
Knowing that when his father was like this it was better to apologise than make up an excuse he quickly bowed his head "Sorry father it's my fault that we were late I was so excited for my first training session that I was unable to sleep which caused me to oversleep needing Valenia to wake me up" Rion said his head still lowered waiting for his father to speak.
Valenia too was bowing and glanced at Rion from the corner of her eye feeling a little guilty for how she tricked him 'Maybe I should let him off' Valenia thought to herself as she remained bowing just like Rion.
Since neither of them could see their father's face they wouldn't be able to see the proud look on his face but he quickly masked the proud look on his face returning to the plain look he had.
Normally Nialan would have forgiven their lateness but since he was in drill sergeant mode he wouldn't let this go so easily "It's understandable for you to be excited but think of it like this if people's lives were at stake then you being late could be a crucial factor of whether they survive or not" Nialan said causing Rion's brow to furrow when he heard what his father said.
You'd think that Nialan was being a tad extreme over his children being a little late to training but he acted this way because he didn't want his children to end up making mistakes when it actually mattered even if he needed to be tough on them.
A tense silence filled the air with Rion and Valenia not moving a muscle as their father continued to stare at them "As punishment for your being late you'll have to run 5 laps around the perimeter of the house without using your Mana" Nialan said causing Rion's and Valenia's heads to snap up their eye's as wide as saucers.
Nialan's face remained plain making it unreadable "What are you waiting for get running" Nialan said as he stared at Rion and Valenia waiting for them to move.
Rion and Valenia looked at each other before they both released a sigh at almost the same time accepting their fate.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
As Rion and Valenia got further away their father turned and looked at the edge of the training grounds at a tree "You two had better come out within the next 3 seconds or your punishment will be that much worse" Nialan said his gaze still fixed on the tree.
"3"
Nialan began counting down from three as he stared at the tree waiting for who was hiding behind the tree to come out.
"2"
Still nothing appeared as he reached two his brow starting to furrow with annoyance when who he was addressing still didn't come out from their hiding place.
"Oh did I forget to mention that for every second you remain hidden there will be another hour added on to your punishment" Nialan said the tone in his voice showing that he meant every word he said.
"On-"
Before he could finish his countdown two boy's appeared from behind the tree that Nialan was looking at.
The two boy's that were hiding behind the tree happened to be Rion's older brother's Kanro and Lanat who arrived shortly after Rion and Valenia had started running.
~~~~~~~~~
Oblivious to what was happening back at the training grounds Rion was still doing laps around their house.
Although Rion had done some training with his father to prepare for when they were preparing to enter the Vallen forest, Rion was already having difficulties by the time he and Valenia were around a third of a way done with their second lap.
Valenia was having an easier time than Rion due to the fact that she had been training with their father for over 2 month's by the time he joined them.
Seeing her younger brother struggle Valenia decided to help him "Come on Rion you can do this just focus on your breathing and we'll be finished before you know it" Valenia said cheering Rion on from ahead of him.
Rion was actually rather good at sport's in his past life the reason that he was having such a difficult time was mainly due to the difference that their was between his pre-awakened body and his awakened one.
The reason for this was due to the effect that Mana had on the body and although Mana did end up strengthening the body in the long run, for the first few month's after awakening whether a person had awakened early like Rion or awakened at the at the age of 10 it would have the same result.
If the newly awakened person was to do anything that was too strenuous such as exercise without the aid of Mana it would become extremely difficult, for the person's body to move like it did before they had awakened at least until they had adapted to their newly awakened body.
Rion decided to heed his sister's advice and slowed down his pace to make it easier for him to get his breathing back under control.
Once his breathing had become steady enough Rion picked up his pace just before he arrived back at the training grounds.
As he drew closer to the training grounds of his home he saw his father and two other people stood before him that were in a squatting position in the middle of the training grounds.
When he got close enough he recognised the two other people to be his older brother's Kanro and Lanat 'I wonder what they did?' Rion said as he came to a stop beside his sister to see what was going on.
They watched as their father's figure stood with his back to them as their older brother's squatted as sweat dripped down their face's.
At first glance it looked like a simple punishment but if someone was to sense how dense the Mana was that surrounded his father and two older brother's they would realise their was more to it.
In one of the books that Rion had found at home he had read that when someone uses Mana in such a way it would release a force that was similar to that of gravity which could be used to suppress those that were weaker than themselves.
The same thing that their father was using right now on his two brother's Kanro and Lanat to make their punishment that much more difficult for them to deal with.
Rion and Valenia didn't stay still for long before thier father spoke "Unless the two of you want to join your brother's in their punishment then I suggest that you should carry on with the task that I gave you" Nialan said causing Rion and Valenia to jump in surprise.
They cast a glance at their two brother's and seeing the amount of sweat that dripped down Kanro's and Lanat's face's and soaked thier clothes they quickly made up their mind and went back to their running.