Humanity had lost hope after Asmodeus defeated Luke. Even the greatest hero failed to defeat Asmodeus, and humanity no longer had a way of defeating him. No human in the current era had even a fifth of Luke's power. It felt like their gods had abandoned them. Many humans abandoned their home town in order to survive the massacre about to come when Asmodeus' army attacked.

Then like a miracle, the Demon King had died. Some believed the gods had finally punished the Demons for their sins, while others believed it was Luke's doing. Either way, the Demon King was dead and humanity now had a chance to survive.

The Emperor saw this as an opportunity to end the war. He planned to summon a new hero from another world, who would be powerful enough to deal with the demon armies.

The summoning was happening on the top floor of the Emperor's castle. The room was large and completely empty. Inside the dimly lit room was Emperor Jerrick the Fifth along with nine priests.

"Bring in the gold!"

Unlike demons, humans don't need a sacrifice to perform a summoning. Instead, they have to offer a gift to the gods and pray it would be successful. The most common offering was gold since it had the highest success rate by far. Many of the strongest heroes had been summoned using gold. Additionally, this method required no summoning ring.

The amount of gold used was usually around 200 kilograms. This time Jerrick had prepared over half a ton. The Empire suffered economically by offering such a large amount of gold to the gods. However, if the summoning was successful, it would be well worth it.

The summoning started at around the same time as when Cole woke up inside the forest.

Jerrick and the priests gathered around the gold and started praying. After around a minute of praying, a god heard their wish and the gold started to evaporate like water. All of it disappeared in less than ten seconds. Afterwards, there was a flash of light and the smell of liquor filled the room.

There was now a passed out person lying down where the gold used to be. He reeked of liquor and had black markings all over his body. The markings seemed to resemble men's genitalia. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with one shoe missing. The priests had never seen such odd clothing before.

The summoning was a success, but the priests had concerned looks on their faces. Did they waste all of that gold on a drunk? The only person who didn't look worried was Emperor Jerrick, who instead had a bright smile on his face. He sensed the holy power emitting from the person and knew the gods wouldn't just send an ordinary drunk.

"The summoning was a success! Offer him the best liquor we have! I will explain the situation personally once he wakes up."

Jerrick imagined the demons kneeling before him and couldn't help but smile.

Soon the whole world will be in my hands.

He could have never imagined what the identity of the summoned person was.

----------------------------------------

Cole was once again in the middle of a forest, but this time the forest was much eerier. There was almost no color in the entire forest. The trees had grayish leaves with old, almost rotten looking trunks. It felt like they could snap in half at any moment.

It wasn't just the trees that were odd though. Plants, moss, and even rocks looked like they were dying. Additionally, you couldn't see far away since the forest was foggy. It wouldn't be surprising to see a ghost appear from behind a tree here.

Cole had gotten unlucky and got teleported into the 'Black forest'. The Black forest was infamous among demonkin for being haunted and filled with monsters. It was rumored that people who dared to enter the forest never came out.

Decades ago, demons had made a path through the forest connecting the capital Eldham and the town of Medoea. The path saved off multiple days from the usual path which went around the forest, but it was rarely used due to its dangers.

Cole was now standing on the path with an apple pipe in hand. He now knew it was possible to make a fire using magic and was ready to finally light his bowl.

Why is it so dark out though?

Cole came to the assumption that it was simply just nighttime. If he had been teleported across a planet, it would make sense that it was night on the other side. In reality, it was still just over 11am.

Well, whatever. Right now it's time to celebrate!

Now, how did the weirdo light my finger on fire?

It felt like something went through my hand before the flame started, I think.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Cole had experienced mana flowing through his body when Asmodeus lit his finger on fire. Mana is the resource most magicians use in order to cast magic. Normally the mana inside the caster's body is limited and regenerates slowly. This is why most experienced magicians take advantage of natural mana stored anywhere from trees to animals. Cole, however, has enormous amounts of mana stored inside his body, and it's pointless to use natural mana. Asmodeus had used the mana inside Cole's body earlier.

So imagine liquid stuff going through my hand, into my finger... And now... Fire!

Nothing happened. It was impossible to cast magic using just imagination. Instead, you have to control the mana inside your body. This process takes an average person about a year to learn. Once you have learned to control mana, you need to memorize a chant for each spell you want to cast. It is possible to cast spells without using chants; however, it is only possible for the most experienced magicians.

What if I instead pretend like I had muscles to move my blood around?

Cole held his hand out and tried moving his blood vessels. Somehow, this ridiculous method worked. Cole had succeeded in moving mana onto his fingertips. This method was far from perfect, but it was enough to get a flame started.

Now what? Do I just imagine a flame and yell "fire"?

"Fire!"

"WHAT THE FUUCK! TURN IT OFF! THIS ISN'T WHAT I IMAGINED!"

A fire the size of a small campfire erupted on Cole's hand. He had used the wrong incantation, but it worked anyway due to Cole's enormous mana reserves.

Cole had used too much mana and almost started a wildfire. He panicked and couldn't extinguish the fire on his hand. After struggling for a good 10 seconds, he finally managed to shut off the mana flow.

"Jesus fucking Christ!"

Why was the fire so large even though I imagined just a tiny flame? Could it be because of the weird power flowing through and not my imagination?

Cole once again moved mana onto his fingertip. This time he tried using less mana.

"Fire!"

Now the flame wasn't as large, but it was still too hot to smoke from. When smoking out of a bong or a pipe, using a hot flame will burn your throat. Cole didn't want to cough his lungs out and kept fiddling with his mana output. It was difficult to keep the flame at a level he was happy with due to his massive mana reserves. He kept accidentally adding too much mana and couldn't keep the flame stable.

Cole was incredibly motivated and didn't give up. Usually, he was the type of person to give up immediately when things didn't work out, but when he got motivated he tried harder than anyone. This was a habit that had been with him since childhood. He constantly ignored school work, while spending all of his time on improving at video games. If he hadn't gotten bored and tried harder, he could have possibly gone pro.

In just one hour, he managed to stabilize the flame at the level of a typical lighter found in grocery stores.

Perfect! This should do it just fine.

Cole had subconsciously learned how to control his manaflow while trying to replicate a lighter. Now it was finally time to smoke.

How many months has it been since I last smoked weed?

Cole had been summoned to this world four days ago, but to him, it felt like months. In the last three years, he had only taken one tolerance break longer than four days, and that was due to his drug dealer running out of stock. He was happy to have a chance to smoke again. He took a look of admiration at the plants which he had stolen from his own mansion. He had been carrying them for almost the entire journey and been through tough times together with them.

The flowers were way more beautiful than anything he had seen back on earth. Even the best nugs posted on social media paled in comparison to the plants Cole had now.

He still had the apple pipe, which he'd made 3 days ago. The apple was still edible, but soon he would need to replace it with a new one.

Cole filled the bowl to the brim, but not too tight in order to allow some air to pass through. He put the apple pipe on his mouth and lit the bowl using fire magic. Smoke entered his lungs along with a slight apple-ish taste. Surprisingly there wasn't much discomfort in his throat even though he was using an apple pipe. He exhaled the smoke and felt the effects nearly instantly.

"Holy shit, this is strong. Best fucking weed I've ever smoked."

Cole felt multiple times higher than he normally would from smoking the same amount. He decided to pace himself and settle with just one bowl. Afterwards, he finally took a look around himself.

"Woah, what happened to the forest? There's no way I'm this high yet right?"

Cole had been focused on other things and never took a good look at his surroundings. Now that he did, he realized the forest was basically dead. If this was back on earth he would be panicking, but perhaps forests like these are normal in the world he was transported to.

"Oi, Mr. Tree what the FUCK is going on?"

Cole was high as fuck and started talking to a tree.

"Knock knock, is anyone in there?"

He knocked on the tree a little too hard causing it to snap in half. It fell in the opposite direction of Cole and the trunk completely shattered.

"Oh shit. Sorry Mr. Tree, didn't mean to kill you like that."

Anyway, isn't there anything to eat here? I'm kinda getting hungry.

Cole had started to have the munchies. He had only eaten a couple of apples ever since he woke up in the new world. He looked around for food but instead saw an old sign next to the path he was on. It had similar text written on it to what he'd seen near the mansion. Cole walked up to the sign and looked at it without the translating glasses.

[ ᒷꖎ↸⍑ᔑᒲ 46 ->]

[<- ᒲᒷ↸𝙹ᒷᔑ 35]

Let's see if these glasses actually work.

Cole put on the glasses and the text turned into English instantly.

[Eldham 46 ->]

[<- Medoea 35]

Oh wow, it really works! Are these are directions? To the left is Medoea and to the right is Eldham.

The weirdo said Eldham is the capital city right? I'd rather live in a calm city over a busy capital. Hmm...

Also, I have to walk 10 kilometers less to Medoea...

Cole thought about whether he should take the Demon King's advice and go into the capital or take the shorter route into Medoea. Eventually, he decided to go against the Demon Lord's will and headed left towards Medoea. The deciding factor was the distance. Cole felt like he'd had enough walking through a forest already and just wanted to sleep on a comfy bed.

I hope he won't be too angry when he wakes up and sees me in the wrong city.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about this stupid ring as well."

Cole put on the Ring of disappearance and started walking towards Medoea.