Loki shook his head with a smile and said, "I told you before—I'll help you, you help me. Maybe we could even become pretty good friends."
William chuckled and looked at Loki with a bit of admiration.
When they'd said similar things before, William had turned around and sold Loki out without hesitation. And yet Loki could still say such words without the slightest grudge.
But as long as the benefits were good enough, William didn't mind doing business with Loki either.
"You're right, man. You help me, and when the time comes, I'll help you in return."
But before Loki could even smile, William added, "However, I still hope that moment never comes. After all, if there's something that even you, the second prince of Asgard, can't handle, it's bound to be insanely hard. A lone wolf like me, without any real motivation, might not be able to take it."
"I... I…" Although Loki was fuming inside, he still managed to maintain a smile on his face. "As long as the reward I offer is generous enough, a businessman like you wouldn't turn it down, would you?"
"Come on, Loki, this is the first step in our friendship," William said cheerfully as he patted Loki on the shoulder. "Relax. If anything ever comes up, as long as I can manage it, don't hesitate to come find me."
Now it was Loki's turn to want to spit in William's face.
What did "as long as I can manage it" even mean?
Whether it was doable or not entirely depended on whether William wanted to do it.
This was clearly a case of "I'll show up if there's profit," and worse, even after taking the benefits, he had no intention of offering anything in return. He was blatantly shameless, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Once again, Loki's perception of William was refreshed. He could no longer fake a bright smile and, with a sigh, turned to Heimdall and said,
"Send us to the Dwarves' neutron star forge."
A few seconds later, the two of them arrived on a massive circular platform made of steel, and when William looked up, all he could see was pitch-black space.
At the center of the massive platform was a neutron star core, glowing with fiery red light.
Seeing William staring at the core, which was only about the size of a stadium, Loki smiled and said, "That was excavated from a dead neutron star. The dwarves used secret techniques to reawaken its energy and use it as a forge."
William had already seen this in the movies, but now, witnessing this unexplainable high-tech phenomenon with his own eyes, he finally understood why people across the universe claimed that the dwarves were the true kings of forging.
At the very least, when it came to the fundamental requirement of forging—temperature—the dwarves were leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else.
"Loki, what are you doing here?"
Following the voice, which was clearly unwelcoming, William turned around and saw a giant at least four meters tall walking toward them.
"That's a dwarf?" he asked Loki, who didn't look too pleased. "You guys didn't just give them that name as a joke, did you?"
Loki rolled his eyes. "Think about it. To giants who are ten or even dozens of meters tall, what else would you call someone who's only three or four meters tall?"
Now that he put it that way, William remembered that before Asgard ruled the Nine Realms, the ones in power across the realms were various giant clans.
"Loki…" The approaching dwarf, seeing that Loki wasn't answering, immediately changed his expression. "I am Eitri, King of the Dwarves. Even Odin wouldn't dare ignore me. Nidavellir does not welcome you, Prince of Asgard."
William frowned immediately. Had Loki set him up?
That bastard knew he had a bad reputation among the dwarves, and now he was deliberately ignoring Eitri, dragging William into this and making him equally unwelcome?
Loki didn't explain a thing, just smiled and gestured toward William. "Apologies, Eitri. This is William Devonshire, the legendary archmage of Midgard, and the wieler of the Frost Hammer."
"You're the Midgardian who Odin personally oversaw the forging of his weapon for?" Eitri asked curiously, staring at William. But after just a moment, his brows furrowed. Just as William was beginning to worry things were getting complicated, Eitri walked up quickly and circled around him several times, sighing as he said, "What a shame. Such a pity."
Not used to looking up at others, William floated up with a thought and, beginning to understand, asked, "You mean, there's something wrong with my armor?"
"That's right, exactly."
Seeing how quick on the uptake William was, and now captivated by the Sentinel Armor, Eitri brightened up and said excitedly, "Your armor is indeed powerful, but the materials are basic, and there's not a trace of divine enchantment. Just those two things alone cut the armor's potential in half."
William rolled his eyes. He didn't even need to think to know what this dwarf was up to.
He clearly wanted William to hand over the armor for study—but William would have to be an idiot to agree to that.
He'd rather go to the Hooded One and have him forge a vibranium weapon than let the secrets of the Sentinel Armor fall into anyone else's hands.
Once cracked, the armor's abilities to absorb all kinds of energy, assimilate superpowers, resist physical damage, transform, greatly enhance strength, and travel through the universe at light speed could allow the dwarves to not only skyrocket in individual power but potentially even overthrow Asgard if they mass-produced Sentinels.
Of course, even if the dwarves truly ruled the Nine Realms, in the end, they'd still return here—to keep forging.
"Apologies, Lord Eitri, but this armor is the foundation of my survival. No matter how tempting your offer, I can't possibly reveal secrets that concern my life. And as a friend, I must also warn you."
William spoke plainly, with no attempt to hide anything, so even though Eitri was upset, he didn't hold it against him.
Laughing, he said, "Dwarves fear no challenge and would never betray a friend."
Heh, that was definitely something better heard than believed. If William were someone like Thanos, threatening Eitri with the lives of the 300 dwarves working this forge, Eitri would no doubt spill the armor's secrets.
Unless Eitri truly valued secrecy over the lives of his own people—which was basically impossible. No one would do that, especially not for aliens. Their own people always came first.
So William didn't waste time arguing. He took out some vibranium and the uru metal he'd gotten from Loki and said, "I want a sword. The only requirement is that no one, and nothing—not even energy—can break it."
"Unbreakable?"
Such a simple request actually made Eitri frown.
The simpler something is, the more extreme it becomes. And "unbreakable" also implied the sword could withstand any attack.
If the sword ever broke in the future, it would ruin the dwarves' reputation.
"Why should I make this weapon for you?"
William smirked and waved his hand, tossing out ten thousand healing sigils. "As long as the sword remains unbroken, not only will you get these ten thousand sigils, but every year from now on, you'll get another thousand."
Eitri's eyes lit up. "As long as the sword doesn't break, the deal lasts forever?"
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