What hell feels like

I woke up early morning and had breakfast, Endric went to the academy.

Unlike school, academic year will end a month from now. I looked around for dad but I couldn't see him. I went to his bedroom and he was sleeping. I was mad, I think he forgot about our training sessions. So, like any good child in my situation, I jumped high in the air and dropped like a meteor on his stomach. I could feel the air forcefully leaving his lungs.

I felt really sorry for him, but you do what you got to do. He opened his eyes and looked at me. I put on my cutest side and said:

"Good morning papa, it's getting late, let's go practice" He looked at me, I knew he was mad at the beginning, but that didn't last long against the cute me. He just couldn't stay mad at me. He lifted me high and he got up.

"Eddy, at least let me have breakfast" "Ok, papa" I said with a pout.

(Well, it's the least I could do after pulling that stunt at him) I waited for dad, and when he finished, we went into the backyard.

"So, Eddy, first things first, just because you're 10 year old doesn't mean, I am going to be easy with you. In fact the training would be hellish. Even, when your muscles start to cry for you to stop, I will push you into harder training.

In order for you to be efficient and combat ready, you have to work triple or even harder than anyone else.

These three months would be non-stop training, you would only have breaks at night for sleep and for lunch that's all. Are you ready for this? There would be no turning back from this." I clenched my fist and hit it on my chest. "Yes father, please don't go easy on me" As I said that, I hurriedly regretted it. Dad meant every word he said.

The first thing he did was chain me to some weights. I had extra 10 kilos attached to me. It probably doesn't mean much to an adult but to a 10 year old, it was carrying the heaven on your shoulders. That wasn't all, with those weights; I had to run around the house for a 100 times. A single lap around the house was around 50 meters, so it was a total of 5 kilometers. This is not hellish training. It's hell itself.

I did the first 15 laps without getting very tired. But, by the time I made it to the twentieth lap. I was barely able to lift my leg. Dad saw I wasn't able to run any more, but he didn't say anything, so I decided to push myself harder. I made it to the twenty first lap but I collapsed on the floor. My lungs were hurting me, they wanted to make hands and grab oxygen directly from the air.

Dad looked at me with disappointment and spoke:

"Have you already forgotten what your mother taught you the past six years?" I was puzzled, I didn't get what he was talking about, Dad waved his head and face palmed:

"For a smart guy, I don't know if you are stupid or just have a really bad memory." "Look Eddy, mastering the basics is the foundation to becoming a good mage.

Mana isn't just used for making flashy spells and big explosions. We use it to improve our physical power. Mana, when circulated in your body or some part of it, will raise its strength and resistance." I was really embarrassed, I totally forgot that. "Ok, Dad" I did as he said and circulated Mana in my whole body. My legs that were lying on the floor straightened when I stood up, I could not feel the pain in them any longer.

My back was bent forward trying to assist my shoulders that were carrying the extra weight. But, I could feel the weight on my shoulders becoming more bearable.

I took a running position once more and dashed forward. Even with the previous tiredness and the added weight, I managed to complete a lap in thrice the time I needed to complete one before. I was really excited. Just by circulating some mana, I was able to improve this much.

The good news wasn't over. I wasn't even circulating that much mana. I just used up a single cup from an ocean. I guess that was thanks to my enormous mana pool.

I decided to use four times more mana, and as I took a step forward, all I could see before me was a huge wall. I ended up rushing headfirst in a wall. I felt my head spinning and then my vision turning dark. I dropped unconscious.

*********************************** I open my eyes and find myself lying down on my bed. My vision was blurry at first but then it slowly stabilized. I looked around and no one was in the room, so I decided to go to the kitchen.

When I stepped there, I saw mom speaking to dad who had an apologetic face.

Mom heard my steps and went quite. She looked at me and said:

"Edward, You are grounded for going overboard in your training. You will not be allowed to circulate mana in these 3 months." "But, mom…" "No buts" As she said that, I felt a chill running down my spine. So, I didn't speak any more words. Dad looked at me, he seemed to me a bit angry.

I was regretting what I did earlier, and my parents have the right to be this mad at me. What I did was really careless and perhaps could've caused me the loss of life. Even I would be very mad if my children back on Earth pulled a stunt like this. So I decided to apologize:

"Dad, Mom, I am really sorry, I was very careless" They looked at me and I caught a slight smile on their faces that disappeared very quickly. Dad looked at me, he coughed once and said:

"Good, since you realize your mistake, we won't speak about it any further.

Back to your training, you have been passed out for 2 hours. And as I said earlier your training will be hellish so dinner today would be 2 hours later than usual and you would spend that time training. But there is a slight change, instead of 10 kg of additional weight it would be 12 kg. Consider it as a punishment for the stunt you pulled earlier…" "Ok father" "Let me finish first, and you can't use any form of mana circulation" "But why?" "As your mom said you're grounded and your training would become useless if you just enhance your body with mana. You have to improve your basic physique first. That way, when you enhance your body with mana the effects would be greater" "I get that, so why you told me to use it when I was tired from running?" "I didn't tell you to use it, but I was just surprised that you didn't use it. I thought at first you just didn't want to use it but as I saw barely pulling your legs behind you. I knew you have forgotten it. So I decided to remind you, that's all." (Well that makes sense.) We had lunch and got back to training and it was even harder than before. By the time I completed the final lap, my eyes were bloodshot, my legs barely holding, full of scratches and bruises from falling down from tiredness, and my upper body was wrecked.

Even entering the house was a herculean task. But dad offered to get me in. He raised me in his arms and laid me on his back while holding my legs. My mom saw my pitiful state and praised me for my hard work.

I saw Endric sitting at the dining table. I was very busy earlier so I didn't notice him coming in the house. But apparently he did watch me for a bit and praised my hard work.

Mom served us dinner and I barely could lift the spoon to feed myself. Every muscle in my body was begging me to take a rest. But I was really hungry and forced myself to eat.

Dad looked at me and said:

"Well this will be how you train for the first month and a half. At least for the morning period. When Chrestos starts to teach you magic spells, you will be practicing them in the evening. For the remaining month and a half, that will depend on your progress" I nodded, I knew, from the moment I agreed to this training my whole life would change, and change it did.

I went to have a hot bath and get rid of this day's sweat and changed into a fresh set of clothes. My mom healed my injuries and I went straight to bed.

The moment I closed my eyes, I went into a deep coma. Today's work was intense and I would be passing the next three months like this, So I have to get used to it quickly.