Chapter 198: Choice

Howard awoke back in Jarlon Valley a week later inside a small green medical tent.

His mind felt like he'd been torn into three pieces, yet at the same time, the pain wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. After using Fire King's Last Stand, he was certain that he wouldn't be able to use his body normally again for at least two weeks. Yet when he woke up, he focused on his Ki Hearts, and noticed he seemed to be in somewhat decent shape.

At first, he had thought a ton of days must have passed, buy Jenny was right there next to him holding his hand when he returned from his slumber.

She had tears in her eyes, and looked extremely angry. Howard didn't understand. Did he do something wrong?

"You-you idiot! If-If you didn't wake up in one more day, I-I was never going to forgive myself!" Jenny clutched Howards' hand tightly and pointed out the window. "Yet, I-I'm so happy! You-you deserve all the belated birthday presents you deserve," Jenny bit her lip. "Now, before the other three girls get here, do you mind if I get my turn first?"

"Not yet," Howard said seriously, "Before I get any 'present', can you tell me if Reslan and Annibell are fine?"

"Reslan… He's in the tent next door," Jenny wiped a tear from her eye. She seemed beyond happy that Howard was awake that she couldn't stop from tearing. "However, I-I did some experiments on you when you were asleep. I have some good news and bad news. The good news is you can use Fire King's Last Stand almost infinitely if you meet one requirement. However, that's the bad news." Jenny bit her lip.

"Because you have 60 Ki Hearts, your body can sustain the arrays from Fire King's Last Stand just fine, however, if you use Fire King's Last Stand more than once a year, past the 2nd level, your organs will explode and you'll literally be doomed to die a slow miserable death over the course of 10 years. I-I'm sorry, but you think… You think for the next year you can just fight normally? If I have to see you in this state again… I might not be able to take it."

"Jenny, I plan on never using that ability again, haha! However, did you give me some type of new medicine? I feel even stronger than before I used Fire King's Last Stand. I thought I'd be tired, but I'm not. I thought I'd have trouble even moving, but… if I have a birthday present, I'm more than ready to receive it."

"Mmmm, well, I think you're really going to like your present," Jenny smiled and leaned in before kissing Howard gently on the lips. "Mmm, you're going to like it a lot. You selfish boy! You're lucky there are so few men down here, and I have no choice but to share you. If I didn't, mmm, tonight, I'd have you all to myself."

"I-I still don't understand. Mmmm," Howard kissed Jenny back and looked into her scorching brown eyes. He could see the passion in her dilated pupils. He felt like she wanted to swallow him whole, and he almost didn't mind it. "Why? Why is Reslan in a medical tent? Shouldn't he be fully recovered."

"He-he got an infusion from Harkel, so he needs 2 more days until he's awake," Jenny said, pulling Howard by the hand to the outside of the tent. "However, the good news is that Harkel only lost a little bit of his strength! He said he can't spar you anymore because you'll destroy him, however, he also said it was worth it to save Reslan! After all, what's 100 years of recovery time to a Ghost Authoritarian."

"100 years. How strong is he now?" Howard replied,

'He's roughly even with Oclen in strength, but he says you're stronger than him now. Unfortunately, that means you can only train by yourself Howard. You have 25 days until you can save your grandfather. By the way, I didn't tell anyone else about your grandfather. I didn't want them to worry." Jenny pulled Howard outside, Monica, Harley, and Priscilla were currently surrounding Harkel on all sides. "Yet… this is a pretty good situation to be in, don't you think Howard? None of the teachers died! You even get to have the best belated birthday ever tonight? Now come on. Stop staring at me, and eat me up already!"

"Mmmm, you don't have to ask twice!" Howard smiled and picked Jenny up into the air before he dug his lips into hers. Her beautiful brown hair spiraled into his while their passion ignited in plain site. 

Monica, Harley, and Priscilla looked towards Howard and immediately burst away from Harkel in a sprint. He could only look at the young girls running towards Howard and smile.

'Ugh, Howard, things have gotten so complicated in the last 6 days,' Harkel looked over at Oclen sitting in a circle while he tried to harness the first aspect of how to create a domain. 

Each domain had multiple parts, and understanding even one part of an array could lead to huge improvements in manipulation of external Ki. It was one of the reasons why the SS rank took so long to overcome and for people to ascend to the SSS rank. And also the part of the SS rank most people would try to comprehend last.

However, Oclen, for some reason, ever since he got back a week ago, had started learning about domains, arrays, and frankly stuff only seasoned warriors would be curious about. Yet, unlike he thought, Oclen didn't try to free the Great Last King. He could only assume that his brothers really did spare him. It sucked, but Oclen was too great of a potential for Howard for his suspicions to be made known to all the others around him.

He sighed, and looked at Annibell bringing over some food towards Reslan's tent. This was the busiest Jarlon Valley, at least in his area, had been in a long time. 

"Howard, we have so much to talk about, but you have four girlfriends. Once you satisfy their demands for your birthday, it's time to put the weight of the world on your shoulders." Harkel looked over at Oclen one more time and shook his head. "God, I really hope that Oclen is just acting strange because of a near death experience, and not something worse. If someone infected his Ki Hearts, and took over his body, I can only imagine how strong the person who did it is. They'd have to be in at least the SS rank, if not higher. And now… The strongest person in the area is Howard. God, I really hope that my decision to save Reslan was right. Otherwise, we're all doomed."