Chapter 136: Ki Heart Ring

Howard had only five minutes with Earl, but each minute he learned a precious lesson.

Stepping off his back foot, Howard activated his Dream Ki and instantly dodged an attack from the incomming fist of the armor before he spun once in the air and kicked with all his might. In just a moment, his body had already completely condensed a thick layer of Dark Ki. 

With a smash, he slammed into the armor's fist before the flame on his body disappeared. The next moment, he seemed to split in six directions before he landed by Earl's side.

"Not bad. I still had to decrasee it's strength by 50 percent, though." Earl patted Howard on his sweat covered shoulder and sighed. "I-I only have a minute left, Howard. However, you can always fight my enchanted king armor when you ever need to train."

"However, before I leave, I have to make sure that you survive," Demon King Earl snapped his fingers before a nearby glass case broke. Inside of it, there appeared to be a small silver jewel encrusted ring with two small golden wing ornaments It had some extremely small font that Howard couldn't read when he looked at it up close. "This is my Ki Heart Ring. When you put Ki into it, it will temporarily act like a single Ki Heart."

"As you know, when you enter into the S rank, you have to make between 8 - 64 Ki Hearts right? Well, this ring will supercharge your Ki Cells. You can think of this as your reward for being such a little badass! However, it still won't be enough to defeat that General! Heh, don't forget, you can always run away!"

"Thank you, I'll kick his ass, promise!" Howard smiled widely and watched Demon King Earl's handsome face disappear into the darkness of the room. He sighed, and turned around before walking back over to the armor. He gently placed the small silver ring on his pinky finger, and sent his Ki surging inside of it.

Boom!

Howard felt like an entire world opened up in front of him, a large gate of power manifesting in front of his blue eyes, before he realized something strange had happened to his Ki. His depleted Dream Ki had instantly charged, and his Dark Ki had regained at least half its previous strength.

'A Ki Heart can replenish Ki?' Howard took a deep breath, and wiped the sweat off his brow. 'I don't get it. Does that mean with this ring I'll be able to use Dream Ki for an unlimited amount of time."

Howard tried to keep pouring his ki into the Ki Heart Ring, but after twenty minutes his connection with it stopped. After 10 minutes, he regained his connection with it. At the same time, he kept training against the statue. He noticed that he could use his Dream Ki now for an average of one minute now instead of twenty seconds, but that was still much better than previously.

"Dream Ki allows me to temporarily increase my speed and do impossible feats, and Dark ki increases my damage by almost half what I can normally do with my normal Ki. I guess that means my strength now is close to someone in the S rank. How the hell are we going to defeat that monster?"

Howard finally closed the Ki Jar and walked towards the exit of the room. He found Monica waiting outside sleeping with her back against the cold brick wall. 

'She must have stayed up all night.' Howard picked Monica up and walked her over to the bed. After pulling back the sheets, he tucked her in and gently kissed her on the forehead. He couldn't let anything bad happen to her no matter what. Monica and his other three girlfriends finally brought him happiness. Compared to when he was with Vicky, it felt like he didn't have to constantly earn her affections. There had been so many nights Vicky kissed him and made his blood boil with anger, but it was different with these girls.

Howard put his arms behind his back and walked over to the window. Outside in the field, he could see the 500 White Mist Warriors preparing for battle. 

They had on silver and yellow armor with several swords tied around their bodies and white helmets with inscriptions of the stars. Seeing them prepare to fight, Howard realized he didn't even know what their abilities were yet.

He sighed, and kissed Monica one more time before he ran down the hallway and rushed outside to meet them in the sandy terrain. A small sandstorm brewed in the distance while the dozens of soldiers immediately bowed towards Howard.

At the same time, many of them were upset. Howard was just a fifteen year old. How was he supposed to lead them into battle? He could barely tie his shoes let alone make decisions that affected their lives!

"Are you kidding me?" A man with dark brown hair tightly gripped his sword, and patted his friend on the shoulder. "He died last night. We really have to follow him?"

"He's a coward. He should've just stayed dead there." Another soldier hissed in response.

Howard could hear this, but walked over to Bermenthol as he waited in front of his troops. He looked extremely focused on the battle ahead of him, however, also a little bit annoyed. He couldn't believe that Howard had returned alive. That wasn't the plan. The plan was for him to kill 10 Jarkales, and not get killed! And now he had to have the same person that got crushed in battle take on the dignity of controlling his men! 

"Howard, I was thinking. Maybe I should command them."

"Let's play a game. All of you fight me at the same time," Howard cracked his neck and activated all of his Dark Ki at once. "I need practice. Why don't you all come at me at once so I can see what you can do."

"Are you nuts?" Bermenthol laughed and shook his head. "Howard, you're strong, but you're young. We have strategies to defeat a single person. With all 500 of us, even Barabin would have to run with his tail between his legs!"

"I don't like being called a coward," Howard pointed at the dark brown haired man with glasses on the front line. "I'm in charge here! Now all of you come at me! Bermenthol, stand back and watch me discipline my men!"