Tony's Request
His size was even larger than the Hulk's. Compared to him, the Frost Giants was not as imposing as this dwarf. However, judging from his body proportions, he did indeed resemble the legendary dwarf.
Thor's neck was tightly locked by the dwarf king, but Thor felt little anger. Everything before him and the dwarf king's missing hands proved that a horrific Carnage had taken place here.
Thor gestured again to Xia Yu and the others that he was alright.
Then he slowly spoke to the dwarf behind him.
"Eitri, I am Thor, son of Odin. I come from Asgard. Tell me, what has happened?"
"I know you are Thor, Son of Odin. Asgard promised to protect us, but where are your people? Thanos came, he killed everyone, everyone! Where are your Asgard?!"
As he finished speaking, Eitri's voice grew louder and louder, and he descended into a state of frenzy.
Xia Yu flashed behind them, crouched down, and with a gentle downward slash, knocked the dwarf king, who was in his peak condition, unconscious.
"Don't worry, he just fainted. He was too excited and probably hasn't had a good night's sleep in a long time. He needs to rest."
Xia Yu comforted Thor again.
"To be honest, this is my fault. I knew all along there was a Titanians madman in the universe who was collecting the Infinity Stones. I thought he would come directly to me, but I didn't expect him to choose to forge the Infinity Gauntlet first in order to control the power of the six stones. It's my fault, Thor."
"No, brother, it's my fault they died. The safety of Asgard and the Nine Realms should be my responsibility. I failed to protect this place properly. Thanos's Carnage here didn't happen overnight. This is my responsibility."
Thor was clearly somewhat remorseful; before Asgard was destroyed, his duty was to protect the safety of the Nine Realms.
Everyone came over and patted Thor on the shoulder, offering silent comfort.
The Dwarves race has always been small in number. They never intermarry with other races. The men in the race are generally straight men who spend their days wielding hammers and love to build things above all else. Marriage and procreation are usually dealt with as secondary issues.
Therefore, at its peak, the dwarf population was only a few thousand, which is extremely rare for a race in the universe.
The universe is balanced. It gave their race unparalleled talent for forging, but it also limited their population. Now, Thanos wiped them out in one fell swoop, leaving only Eitri, effectively eradicating the entire race.
Thor tended to the unconscious Eitri, and the group toured the ring of stars where the dwarves lived. Apart from a few living areas, the entire ring was like a giant blacksmith shop, with all sorts of workbenches and huge hammers.
Eitri must have been out of bed for a long time; Xia Yu knocked him unconscious, and he didn't wake up until several hours later.
"Thanos, that damn guy, he threatened me with his people to make me build him an artifact that could control the Six Infinity Stones. I thought that if I met his demands, he would spare my people—more than 300 dwarves! Thor, that's the total number of dwarves in the entire universe! Do you know what that means?"
Eitri raised his bare arm, trembling uncontrollably, the veins on his hand bulging, revealing the extent of his anger and sorrow.
All the Avengers stood silently to the side, even the most outspoken ones were too embarrassed to speak. In the vast universe, to be completely wiped out and left with only oneself—how lonely and desolate that must be.
"He Carnage everyone, my people, but spared me. I begged him to kill me, but he said my life belonged to me, and my hands should belong to him. Thor, you Asgard are supposed to protect us, where are your people?"
"Well!!"
Thor let out a long sigh.
"Eitri, Asgard has been completely destroyed, Ragnarok. I'm sorry we couldn't protect you, but I swear, we will avenge you. We need powerful weapons, we need your help."
"I can't help you, Thor, I've lost my hands!"
Eitri plopped down on the ground and let out a long sigh. Thanos had not only wiped out his people, but he had also taken away the most precious thing he had.
"It's alright, Eitri, believe in yourself. The blueprints and formulas for those Heaven-Destroyer Earth-Destroyer, hammers, and bows are hidden in your head. We'll be your hands. I swear, we'll use the weapons you forge to kill Thanos with our own hands. And we should be able to find a way to make a replacement for your hands. Although I can't guarantee they can still be used to forge weapons, they can definitely be used to take care of yourself."
As Thor spoke, he turned his gaze to Tony.
"No problem, I guarantee it will be very flexible and easy to use, and it can connect to his nervous system as much as possible, but it needs to be back at our base first."
Tony shrugged. "In this regard, Shuri's lab has the most advanced equipment in the world. Attaching two artificial hands wouldn't be a problem at all."
Thor comforted Eitri for a long time, repeatedly promising that he would kill Thanos and avenge everyone.
Eitri agreed to help everyone, not only repairing Thor's hammer and forging a Stormbreaker, but also working with the group to develop some new equipment.
Dwarves are straightforward; though heartbroken, they get to work immediately. They pulled Tony aside and began discussing their ideas for the group's equipment and the functions it needed.
Xia Yu's prediction was correct. The combination of traditional craftsmanship and magic, along with scientific design and ideas, instantly sparked a tremendous synergy between the two.
As the two continued their in-depth conversation, Tony began directing Xia Yu to bring over a considerable amount of equipment from the base, such as energy systems and computers.
In this kind of exchange, no one else could get a word in edgewise. Eitri had spent his entire life using cosmic energy and magic to create equipment, and he had never seen Tony with such imaginative ideas, especially regarding Tony's Iron Man Armor.
Seeing that their conversation wouldn't end anytime soon, Xia Yu led his men back to the base, leaving Tony there to finalize the plan before going.
Faced with the Armor created by Tony's genius-like ideas, Eitri was greatly disappointed by its energy aspect. In his words, this superweapon should be like the artifacts of Asgard, using the core of a planet as its energy system.
Tony had considered this. Compared to his current body, the Armor seemed to be playing a smaller and smaller role. Against some powerful opponents, the various firearms attached to the Armor were clearly not enough to keep up with his needs, especially in close combat with melee weapons.
Although the Armor's nanotechnology allows it to conjure up numerous weapons unexpectedly and attack enemies from many unbelievable angles, its offensive power is no longer sufficient to meet Tony's needs.
However, the core of a planet can only be obtained after a planet has decayed for many years. Asgard has not had many weapons that can use this precious material as an energy source over the years.
Tony, intrigued by Eitri's words, immediately summoned Xia Yu.
"My Armor needs a more powerful power source, like Mjolnir."
When Tony saw Xia Yu, he acted like a child asking for candy, practically plopping down on the ground.
The two have completely improved the synthesis formula of Uru Metal and Vibranium. The most powerful Armor in Tony's mind is about to be completed. Now all that is missing is an energy core.