Once you have bronze figured out, get yourself a bronze shield and recommend you upgrade it twice. That will allow you to parry almost anything in the Black Forest and Swamp biomes.

Make a bronze axe and you can cut down oak and birch trees. From those you can get fine wood, which can be used to make many things, including a new bow, fermenters for crafting potions (poison resist will be very important in the swamp), and much more.