BECOMING AN ANCESTOR

The Viking shield was made of seven spruce boards. Additionally, it had a diameter of 85 centimeters and a thickness of only eight millimeters near the center and five millimeters at the edges.

I will base my design solely on the circular shape of the shield. I will cut down some trees and shape them into the shield's form, with a diameter of 85 centimeters and a thickness of at least eight millimeters, and I will attach some vines to hold it together. I'll also use the leftover panther skin to give it a personalized touch.

I will also create some utensils like a bucket, for which I will need to obtain clay, which shouldn't be a problem, but the challenge may be using fire. I'll figure it out when the time comes.

Now my plans for this month are set. After finishing this, I need to complete mapping this forest. I already know the way to get out of here, but I need to discover all the resources it has. I don't intend to stay in this forest for long, but it's better to know what I have to work with.

I know there's a stream, but I haven't found the source yet, so I still have to catalog the forest's natural resources. It could have some interesting resources since it's been millions of years since I lived here, so there might be things that haven't been discovered yet.

I hope to find something new here.

I looked at the sky and saw that it was already getting dark.

Well, that's all for today.

Tap, tap, tap.

I sigh; this is the last one.

Two weeks have passed.

I thought it would be easier, but I ended up discovering that stone tools aren't as good as I hoped. I need more durable materials soon.

It would be great to use iron, but I still have many things to do, and it's just me doing everything. I think iron is far away for my current self.

At least... I finished the shields.

Next to me were about ten Viking-style shields. I only used the piece of panther skin on the last one, which turned out better than the others. The first ones were quite irregular, but the last one was decent, and the yellow color and spots gave it a unique look.

Great, now comes my next task, the map.

I decide to give up on the clay bucket; it's not an emergency, and I managed to use some logs to make a usable one.

During these two weeks, I found the water source. It was quite far from the group, but after charting a route, I created shortcuts, and it doesn't take much time.

Regarding the group, the leader seems to have stopped paying attention to me. It became normal for me to leave and return, but that doesn't make me let my guard down. It may mean that he's no longer interested in me and could try something. Now he and others can make wooden spears, making me less special to the group.

But now, with my shields and the completed map, I have several routes.

Instead of making a clay bucket, I had the idea to make a map with this clay. Even if the others in the group saw it, they would just think it's a strange rock, but a human would recognize it as a map.

I've managed to see all the edges of the forest; it's not that big, but I don't have much freedom to go where I want, as there could be a predator around any corner.

But I managed anyway.

The problem now is how to make the map for real. At the moment, I only have a rough sketch in my head, but I need to figure out a way to write the map on the clay. It would be great to have paper and a pen, but I can't even create a clay map, let alone one on paper with ink.

Clay won't be the hard part; the difficult part will be the fire. Making fire won't be a problem, but not being noticed is the challenge.

I could keep the map only in my head, but I have plans for it. Besides guiding me, I've realized that I need to make long-term plans to survive in this world, and teaching the others in the group might be something I'll have to do, and a map could be one of those things I'll have to teach them.