When do I get to use magic?

As I open my eyes I’m face down, laying on a rocky surface but my bottom half is on what looks like a body of water. My surroundings are dimly lit by blue light. I prop myself up while waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I take a look around my surroundings.

It looks like I’m in a cave, there’s some moss on the floor and walls, bluish crystals giving off a faint glow and a lake. A cold breeze keeps flowing in.

(Okay, not the best spawn location but I think I can work with this. I hope.)

Looking at myself, I’m wearing extremely worn clothes. At least, I think they are supposed to be clothes. It’s only a pair of pants and a simple T-shirt.

They are completely torn up, wet and full of stains and smudges of different colors. I see brown, yellow, green, black and red. I try not to think about it too much but next comes a really funky smell that makes me question if maybe going completely nude would be an upgrade.

I try to pat my pockets but I’m not sure if my pants even have pockets or are just a bunch of holes. As I do, I noticed something.

(My body is really fit!)

I lift my “shirt” and not only I have abs, but all my muscles are well toned! Nothing insane but compared to my previous body this is a major buff!

(All right, now we are talking! Wait, the voice did mention I would be getting a new body.)

I look at the lake. The water is clear enough that a can see my reflection.

My face isn’t all that different. What really catches my attention is my eyes and hair.

First, I got heterochromia now. My right eye is the familiar dark brown I had in my previous life, but my left one is light blue.

And my hair is blond with black streaks.

(I look like a delinquent with badly bleached hair and one contact lens)

Still, it is kind of odd. I look different, but the same in some way.

(A side effect of a foreign soul in a native body to this world perhaps?) I guess this is who I am now.

Character creation, checked.
Equipment, checked.

I guess there is only one thing left to do. I know what the voice said back there but it doesn’t hurt to try.

“OPEN STATUS!!!” I say out loud.

“STATUS WINDOW! OPEN INVENTORY. Check attributes. System start? Nope, nothing…”

(Well, she did warn me. Worth a shot.)

My eyes finally get used to the low light and I can see better where I am. The cave is pretty much empty, except for one of the corners that has what it looks like a makeshift shelter made of wood and rags of cloth.

I go to take a look, but as I get closer to it a sense the same smell from my clothes but way stronger.

I start to tear up a bit.

I hesitate a bit but take a deep breath and push the cloth to the side. Looking inside it appears more like a nest than a shelter. Pieces of clothes, rope and a bit of hair all tangled up in the middle. Theres also bones. From outside it was bad enough but inside you can mix the smell of rotting flesh and now I’m more than ready to give up.

I back up a lot to get some clean air.

Even if there was a good item in there it’s honestly not worth it to try and find it.

(I guess this is it. Not really a lot. I should probably start to look for a way out especially if whatever lives there thinks about coming back.)

I pay attention to the cold breeze that’s passing though the cave.

(Following the breeze would leave me outside, right?) I sure hope it will.

I start to walk through the cave, trying my best to feel the wind so I have a direction to go.

Every now and then there’s some difficult terrain or a small climb, but this body fitness is coming in handy. Although the more time passes, I realize more that the lack of special skills is starting to catch up to me.

I have no clue how much time has actually passed, but for sure it has been a couple of hours.

Right now, I’m not that different from a normal human from my world and the more I walk the more tired and hungrier I get. My feet are hurting from walking barefoot and my hands from the climbs I have to do. Even the small ones are starting to get more demanding.

But surprisingly the silence has been manageable. The cave has a nice ambience sound, so it’s not absolute silence and I’ve been keeping my mind occupied by trying different ways to use magic.

“Fireball!”

“Ice lance!”

“Thunder strike.”

“Light?”

I’ve been trying pretty much every possible way of magic casting that I could remember from all those novels and manga I read back home, but nothing worked so far.

Chanting, hand signs, focusing mana on different parts of the body.

Nothing.

More time passes

I still have no clue how long it has been. The silence isn’t so manageable anymore.

“Earth…” I raise both my hands, dropping them with a sigh of defeat.

“Lightning…” I don’t even have the energy move my arms anymore.

(I’m tired. I’m hungry. I’m cold. My feet hurt.)

“Magic…”

“Anything.”

“Anything at all!” But nothing happens.

I stop for a bit and take a deep breath.

“GOD DAMN IT!!!!” I can’t control my emotions anymore.

“STUPID VOICE! YOU WANT ME TO HELP THE WORLD? WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU PUT ME IN A STUPID CAVE HUH?!?! YOU GOT SHIT FOR BRAINS?!”

My voice echoes around the massive tunnels all around me.

“I can’t say anymore, I already interfered enough.” I mimic the voice I heard in a mocking tone.

I keep walking, at this point the only thing keeping me going is my angry rambling.

“AND WHAT EVEN IS A ‘SYMBOL THAT WARDS OFF NIGHTMARES’?! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT THAT IS?!”

I hear steps coming from behind me.

I immediately stopped talking like someone pressed the mute button on my voice. I can feel my stomach drop and my throat closes. A chill runs down my spine.

Turning around I start looking around at my surroundings. I haven’t’ been paying attention at all. I have no clue at all where I am.

I’m in a tunnel and can only keep going where I was heading or turn back to where the sound came from.

(Yeah, that’s not happening. Only way to go is forward.)

My body is screaming at me to run. Run as fast as I can and not look back. Run until my bare feet are bleeding from all the running.

But my mind is telling me to stay and look at whatever made this sound.

I don’t know why, but that’s what I want.

It’s dark. I can barely see in front of me. If I want to know what it is I will have to wait until it gets close to me.

Too close.

The fear is becoming overwhelming, but I’m not running. Deep down I want to see it. To know what this world is like.

All I have seen of this world so far is cave walls. So, I decided not to run.

I would come to regret this decision immediately.