BECOMING AN ANCESTOR

"Attack!"

"Haaa!!!"

"Again!"

"Haaa!"

"That's it, keep it up."

Today is a special day; it's been a year since I arrived at this time.

At first, I thought I had landed on another planet or something of the sort. If I were a normal person, I might have just figured out that I had traveled to the past and wouldn't know the specific era.

Due to my interest in history and species evolution, I managed to estimate the period I'm in.

If I'm correct, I'm at the beginning of the Early Pleistocene and the end of the Pliocene.

Someone who has never researched these eras probably wouldn't find many differences since there aren't really that many.

The vegetation is very similar, the animals, even the regions are quite alike, with a difference here and there, nothing that really stands out.

At least I can recognize the things that are different. The vegetation, despite being similar, has some variations, as do the animals.

For example, the panther I killed was larger than a normal panther. I also encountered other animals such as a pack of xenocyon, and besides these predators, I came across other creatures like ancestors of gnus and antelopes while observing the savannas.

"Great, congratulations on the victory, Joe."

"Thank you, chief."

It's been a few months since I started the gang's training, and during this time, a lot has happened. The worst thing was the dropouts, those who couldn't learn.

To address this, I realized I had to create an incentive.

My solution was:

Only those who learn get to eat; those who can't, get the scraps.

This basically became a kind of law.

After implementing this rule, there were far fewer dropouts, but some decided to run away.

Since they couldn't eat and attempting to do so would result in a beating, I found out that some died after fleeing.

So, I started using those who died as examples.

All that remained learned the basics of what I taught.

Right now, I'm testing the groups and each leader.

Joe just won several duels against various participants, including Martins, the former chief.

"Cornelius, your turn."

"Here, chief."

Cornelius's test was to create some tools and weapons, of course, without any help or instruction.

After a while, he handed in:

An axe, a spear with a stone tip, a rope, a pestle, yellow paint, and a bow.

"Uh-huh, not bad at all, congratulations."

"Thank you, chief."

Now, the last one.

"Fred, what are you going to do?"

"Savannah."

"The savannah?"

"Yes."

"Alright, begin."

During the months of teaching, I had him draw everything he saw. I took him to various places: the river source, the crocodile area, the xenocyon den, the savannah, and even the cave entrance.

With these experiences, he started drawing landscape portraits. Though not extraordinary, it was impressive for an Australopithecus from around 3 to 2 million years ago.

I think, just like Cornelius is a genius, Fred also has artistic talent.

After some time painting, he finished, and the result was surprising.

It was a portrait of the savannah with even some animals. He drew the sun, the low grass, and the few trees.

"That, that, is excellent. Congratulations, Fred."

"Thank you, chief."

"Great, everyone forward."

Now that I've finished teaching the basics, I've decided it's time to begin a journey.

It's time to change the gang, and I even know where to.

We're heading to the savannas, or perhaps beyond them.

During the months, I wasn't just playing the role of a teacher.

I also planned and executed some quite impressive things, honestly.

One of them was the use of metals.

Finally, I managed to create a furnace.

Since I have plans to leave this forest soon, I decided to create an improvised furnace. I didn't want to do many things, just small ones.

One reason I want to leave this forest is that a forest can be very limiting for development. During this time, forests began to disappear, and the savannas took over. This is already happening, and in a few thousand years, this forest probably won't even exist anymore. So, I'm just accelerating a process that is bound to happen.

This will also accustom the tribe to developing in a more extensive territory.

Using the Catalan forge.

The Catalan forge had a dome made of stones, in a circular section, approximately 1 meter high, 18 by 0.76 meters in diameter, known as the cup, with a lower nozzle connected to a bellows for the supply of heated air. The ore was fed onto a layer of charcoal, and another layer of charcoal was fed over it, in a procedure very similar to what is currently used.

Since I don't have access to charcoal, I had to improvise and use wood as fuel.

After many attempts over a few weeks, the forge worked, and I had access to iron.

It wasn't a big deal, but I could mold it.

So, I decided to create some iron tools and weapons.

Technically, I've already entered the Iron Age, but others are still learning the Stone Age.

I hope that in a few years, they reach this stage.

This year has been really crazy. I died, then I was reborn as an Australopithecus, around 3 to 2 million years ago. After that, I had to learn a form of communication, fought for my life with a panther, crafted items as if I were in Minecraft, explored, mapped, and noted resources.

I became a chief, a leader, made friends who, despite my attempts, can't stop calling me chief. I planted a seed to create a future civilization. It was very challenging, but I think it was satisfying.

Well, I don't know what the future holds, and I'm not sure if everything will work out, but I think it will be very interesting.

....

"How is he doing?"

"Better than the others."

"It seems like you were right after all."

"Tell me the last time I was wrong."

"I don't know, maybe when you wiped out the dinosaurs."

"That was an accident; that meteor was a crucial piece for a project. I just veered a little to the right."

"And that little deviation annihilated most of a planet's life."

"Enough, both of you! We should just observe for now."

"Until when?"

"Until they make contact with us!"

"That's if they don't make contact."

"Everything should unfold as it's supposed to."