My initial idea was to create a porcupine-inspired suit using metal spikes.

But considering that my only metal is gold and that thing is really heavy, if I made it into a garment, I probably wouldn't even need to travel anymore.

To withstand attacks from wild beasts, this suit must have two characteristics. One is that it must be able to effectively absorb the impact of a beast's collision.

Having experienced that encounter with the wild boar, I know this is crucial.

Among materials with the best impact resistance, only two can be found in nature: vine and bamboo.

Among them, the rattan armor woven from green vines has the best resistance to blows.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang used rattan armor woven from green rattan to fight against rattan armor soldiers. Rattan armor was not only lightweight, but also impervious to swords and blades, and its elasticity could greatly absorb the enormous energy from impacts.

Someone once tested the defensive capabilities of rattan armor; even a single strike couldn't penetrate it under a high-speed charge of a warhorse. I imagine the explosive power of a horse's charge is roughly equivalent to the force of a tiger's paw striking down.

However, this thing still doesn't give me complete peace of mind, because the rattan armor is used against human enemies, while I am likely to be facing a Siberian tiger with the force of a ton of flesh with a single slap.

It doesn't necessarily just pat my body; if it patted my head, I'd probably still fall into a deep sleep.

Therefore, we cannot be completely passive in defense. We must be able to directly damage incoming enemies, like the quills of a porcupine. This way, predators like tigers will think twice before attacking.

Therefore, my plan is to combine the vine armor with sharp spikes, so that both can have good resistance to blows and can also take the initiative to attack and deter the enemy.

There's no shortage of vines here, and I can make those thorns by burning and grinding those bamboos.

But while that's the idea, putting it into practice is not so simple.

How to combine bamboo and vine, and how to structure it to maximize the material's performance—these are all questions.

However, I don't intend to give up. Since that's the case, I'll experiment again and again, and eventually, I'll be able to combine them perfectly.

So, I started collecting vines. I dried them slowly by the cooking fire, because only dried vines are strong enough for weaving.

My initial idea was to weave the rattan armor using the same method as basket weaving, but I quickly discovered the problem. Rattan armor woven that way wouldn't be able to withstand attacks from wild beasts, let alone be destroyed by me with just a few hits from an axe.

After that, I started experimenting with various knitting methods, but none of them were satisfactory. Either the strength was insufficient, or they were too bulky and could not be worn at all.

After dozens of experiments, I finally found the most suitable weaving method. I plan to use a cross-weaving method to continuously weave three layers.

In this way, when the first layer is subjected to force, the force will be immediately neutralized by the elastic potential energy of the two layers of rattan armor behind it.

The problem of the rattan armor has been solved, but the remaining issue is how to securely attach the spikes to it.

Direct insertion is definitely not an option; it wouldn't be able to securely hold the spikes in place, and they would probably be knocked off with a single swipe of the tiger's paw.

I began to ponder these spikes again. These things were even more troublesome than rattan armor.

According to my design, these spikes should be at least 20 centimeters long, but installing these dagger-like spikes has been a constant source of trouble.

Whether I use pine resin to fix it or other bamboo strips to reinforce it, I cannot achieve the effect I want.

After racking my brains for two days, I finally came up with a suitable solution.

Since it's impossible to fix it securely, let's just leave it unfixed and make it into a spike that can move independently.

This way, like a porcupine, it can raise its quills in times of crisis, reducing the possibility of damage from everyday bumps.

I must say that my idea was very ahead of its time, and what happened to me afterwards indirectly proved that the design concept was completely correct.

I spent four days making a rattan armor, or more specifically, a tortoise shell with a flat front and a slightly convex back.

However, its function is similar to that of a tortoise shell, so that when I encounter danger, I can directly retract my head into this shell to protect my most important part, my head.

I also left two holes in the chest area of ​​this rattan armor so that I could easily observe changes in the outside situation.

The raised back area has a mesh shock absorber made of a lot of bamboo strips woven into the internal gaps. Combined with the three layers of rattan armor on the outside, I dare say that if a car crashes into me head-on, it can only knock me away, but it may not necessarily hurt me inside.

Next comes the most amazing part of this cutting-edge technology.

If the previous rattan armor was a passive defensive fortress, then the spikes that follow are like adding a layer of Stegosaurus spikes to that fortress.

My method is to burn bamboo strips, five centimeters wide and twenty centimeters long, until they turn black and grind them into spikes. The spikes are then connected using hemp rope.

I made several openwork frames around the outside of the rattan armor using rounded bamboo strips. There are two holes for the spikes, one at the top and one at the bottom, and the round bamboo strips are inserted into the spikes in the first hole.

The second hole of the spike is pulled by a hemp rope, which enters the armor body through the pre-reserved hole in the rattan armor, and then gathers into a unified bundle, which is placed on the right side of the chest.

When not in use, these spikes droop due to gravity, spreading across the surface of the rattan armor like scales.

When needed, tighten the inner hemp rope. At this time, all the spikes will be stretched out by the tension of the hemp rope to form a unified defense.

Another major advantage of this non-fixed thrust is that it is not easily damaged.

If a wild beast tries to strike the spikes from the side in an attempt to break them, the spikes, which are pulled by ropes, will swing together in the direction of the strike.

However, when the beast slams down vertically, the bottom of the spikes, which are at a 90-degree angle, just touches the vine armor, making it instantly the most stable structure.

Once you take a picture, whether it's a tiger or a leopard, its claws will definitely be ruined.

Therefore, this thrust itself has both offensive and defensive characteristics, coupled with the sturdy rattan armor, and the long spear in my hand for long-range harassment.

This defense is so strong that it can practically roam freely in this rainforest against wild beasts.

So my idea of ​​making it a movable spike wasn't just for the convenience of everyday wear; more importantly, I considered that a fixed spike would be easily broken by wild animals, thus creating an opening.