[Item: Mechanical watch]
Tells time.

“I don’t know what I expected. So I can equip it in the bracelet slot?”

Matthew removed the one he was wearing and equipped another from his inventory in his equipment window. He then rendered it visible using the system function, and the watch appeared on his wrist.

“Oh, it already tells the right time without having to adjust it? That’s neat.” he noticed, surprised.

'I won't have problems with it getting broken if I hide it, will I? Since I keep the stats from the hidden equipment and they never had issues when I got hit, I guess so. I didn't need to stock up on spare watches then.' he thought. 

Matthew then cooked himself lunch and thought about potential uses for his newly found knowledge while eating. 

Once he was done eating, he took out his notepad again and started listing ideas on what he could work on. 

It entailed things he already thought about while researching players or reading webnovels to new ideas he came up with from his current circumstances. 

"First, let's go take care of the chicken heads so that I can be completely at ease here." he said. 

He took out the adventurer's sword, and directly thought of something. He put the sword back in the inventory and took the notepad back out. 

'Practice inventory weapon swaps' he noted. 

'I have a shield now, so I should be able to pull it out instantly in case of surprise attacks. I can also practice swapping weapons if I want to switch from the shortsword to the longsword for an increased reach.' he thought. 

He switched back from the notepad to the shortsword and made his way to the village in the clearing. 

The chicken-headed humanoids noticed him when he was half way through the clearing and all 10 of them ran toward him. 

They met their end swiftly as they had virtually no combat sense. Matthew cut them all down one after the other in a rapid succession without them putting up any resistance. 

Once done, he went to the so-called village. It consisted of primitive huts. He entered one of them and inside, only found rugs on the floor and a log that could serve as a stool. 

'There is almost nothing, and yet it's more than I expected. They didn't look like they could build anything.' he thought. 

He sat down on the rugs. 

'Alright, let's test out what I can come up with as skills using the mana knowledge.'

He cleared his mind, closed his eyes and focused his senses on what laid inside him. 

He tried to mimic the sensation he got from using Sword aura without a weapon. 

He started by feeling the mana gathered in his chest. He tried to separate a small amount, just like he felt when using Mana pulse. 

'It's like trying to pinch sand out of a balloon. I can feel like I'm pulling on it, but it slips and goes right back to where it was.' 

After trying for a while, he decided to activate Mana pulse a few times to observe exactly how the mana separates within him. 

'I just have to pull a small amount and then shape it. I can do it.' 

He felt sweat forming all over his body. He did not move an inch and kept concentrating. 

'I got it! OK now I have to shape it.'

He managed to extract a small amount of mana. He expanded it slowly, just like it did when he activated Mana pulse. 

When the mana was about to reach his skin from inside the body, he kept it there. Right on the edge below his skin. 

'If I can keep it there, it should act as a reinforcement just like Sword aura.' he thought, maintaining his focus.

He kept the thin layer of mana below his skin and tried to add more mana to it, in order to increase the density. 

He failed in staying focused enough and when he tried to detach mana from its source at the same time, the layer he was keeping fled through his skin and disappeared outside of his body. 

'Damnit! Again.'

He began again. This time however, instead of detaching energy like before, he just pulled on the source but kept the part he was expanding tethered to the source. 

That way, he could more easily increase the density of the layer once formed. 

Once the mana he controlled had expanded to right below his skin, he started pulling more mana out of the source through the remaining connection and increased the layer's density. 

Ring. 

His eyes shot open at the sound from the system. 

[You have unlocked a new skill: Mana armor.]

[Skill: Mana armor (Lv.1)]
A subcutaneous coat of mana protects the body from harm.

"Yes! I created a skill! A good one even!" he exclaimed, overjoyed. 

Now that he was not so focused, he realized that he was out of breath, drenched in sweat, completely exhausted and famished. He looked at the time. 

"I've been at it for 5 hours? No wonder I'm in this state!" 

He took out a glass and some water, as well as some food out of his inventory and prepared himself a large sandwich. 

He gulped down water, ate his sandwich and got to thinking. 

'I don't think I need to leave right now. I don't know if people noticed anything outside yesterday or if there has been any news about it.' 

He made up his mind and decided to stay here for the time being. He had nothing to check up on outside anyway and was perfectly safe where he was. He also could keep on training on the list he made here. 

Once decided, he pulled out a tent from his inventory. 

"I know I'm in a hut, but the sun stays high in this portal and the light easily passes through. I'll be more comfortable in here." he said as he started setting up the tent inside the hut. 

Once everything was set up, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

…

Ring.