"I need to forge a Shangbaoqin Golden Rake!"
"What did you say? A rake?"
Eitri and Thor were dumbfounded. They did not understand a word of what Li Yue said!
Li Yue had no choice but to tell the Dwarf King about the weapon's shape, style, length, and other data. Only then did Eitri understand what kind of weapon Li Yue wanted to create.
"This is the first time I've heard of such a weapon. It was neither a spear nor a blade, yet it was similar to them. But that wouldn't be a problem for us dwarves. We need only time to prepare the mold before we can forge it!"
"No problem!" Li Yue happily replied.
If it's just time, then Li Yue has plenty!
"Let's begin with Thor's weapon, then. Thor, we have prepared a mold of King-grade artifact. It is a powerful artifact—in theory, it could even summon the Bifrost. It was comparable to your father's divine weapon, Gungnir," Eitri boasted to Thor.
"It can summon the Bifrost? What is the name of this weapon?"
Thor's face immediately lit up when he heard that the weapon could summon the Bifrost. He glanced at Li Yue. Was this what Li Yue meant when he said that Thor wouldn't need Li Yue's help?
Could it be that Li Yue already knew? That the weapon prepared for him would have the ability to summon the Bifrost? Thor was quite shocked. He understood now why his father had agreed to Li Yue's exorbitant price!
"It's called the Storm Breaker axe!" Eitri practically shouted the name.
Eitri was proud of this name. He had hoped that Thor and Li Yue would be awed by it.
Unfortunately, Li Yue already knew about it, so he didn't have any expression on his face. Meanwhile, Thor suddenly blurted out:
"But I prefer to use hammers!"
...
Thor ultimately conceded and accepted the Stormbreaker as his new weapon. He gave Eitri the greenlight to begin forging the axe.
Odin had obviously expected that Thor would someday need the Stormbreaker. Otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed the dwarves to keep the mold for the weapon.
Eitri took the mold from the warehouse. It was a square block—during the events of Infinity Wars, Rocket Racoon commented that it looked like a brick.
The inhabitants of Nidavellir were yet to be slaughtered by Thanos, and the forge was yet to be ransacked. All of its functions were operating properly, so Thor didn't have to bear the energy of the neutron star.
After the dwarves finished preparing the materials, Eitri ordered the production to commence. All the dwarves had their own duties, carefully preparing and processing every part and segment of the axe.
"Thor, are you ready? We are going to start!"
"Let's do it!"
....
At Thor's cue, Eitri personally flipped the forge's switch. The fiercely burning neutron star rotated, shooting a bright beam of orange-yellow light that poured into the forge's furnace!
The temperature of the neutron star's beam easily exceeded a hundred million degrees, instantly lighting up the furnace. The silver ingots of Uru metal were melted in a matter of seconds by the intense heat, turning into a glowing liquid reminiscent of flowing magma.
Eitri inspected the furnace. The Uru metal had completely melted. He then turned a lever to slowly pour the liquid metal into the mold that he had prepared.
After letting it cool down, Eitri smashed the mold with his right hand—he was wearing a special glove.
The mold shattered, revealing the still-glowing Uru that had solidified within it.
"Quick, bring the handle!" Eitri shouted.
A dwarf ran to his side and handed him a slightly curved wooden axe handle. This handle wasn't made from any ordinary wood: it was a branch of the World Tree, the same material as the shaft of Odin's Gungnir!
Eitri received the handle from his companion and used a technique that Li Yue couldn't quite understand to fuse the handle with the axe.
(Author Note: to be honest, I have no idea how these things work...)
"Thor, it's up to you now. Use all your strength to channel your divine power to this axe!" Eitri turned around and shouted at Thor after fixing the handle to the axe.
Thor wasted no time and erupted with all his divine power, enveloping his entire body with lightning. The God of Thunder had truly descended upon this realm. His immense aura forced the dwarves to get away from him.
Boom!!!!!!!
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning appeared out of nowhere, directly striking the Stormbreaker on the ground. But the lightning didn't damage the Stormbreaker: instead, it covered the axe in silver lightning!
Stormbreaker slowly floated from the ground. Thor, still within his lightning, raised his right hand at Stormbreaker.
Whoosh!
With the sound of air being cut, the Stormbreaker instantly flew into Thor's hand. Thor's already immense aura was amplified by countless times, and he also began floating slowly into the air.
Li Yue was shocked when he saw Thor. He had been wondering how could an axe could grant Thor the power to instantly defeat Thanos, who was empowered by the infinity gauntlet, but seeing Thor's rising aura, Li Yue was convinced that this world really was a pay-to-win reality.
(It was also possible that Thanos was simply underestimating his opponent.
"How could he be so different when wielding the Stormbreaker compared to when he was holding Mjolnir?"
Li Yue blurted the question at Eitri beside him.
"The Mjolnir helps its wielder to control their powers, but Stormbreaker doubles their innate strength. Only the truly powerful could handle this divine artifact!
"Thor is obviously the exact match for this weapon. He was the only one who could handle it!"
Eitri was also amazed by Thor's appearance. He didn't expect that Thor would be able to control the divine power of the God of Thunder in the short while that they've been away from each other. No wonder Odin the Allfather had asked him to forge the King-grade artifact!
Li Yue somewhat got the gist of it from Eitri's answer.
To use a video game analogy, the Mjolnir was an item with +9999 attack power. No matter who held it, they would be able to unleash considerable strength.
But the Stormbreaker would have something like +999% attack power. The percentage bonus becomes more apparent the stronger its wielder is.
...
"Eitri, let's forge my weapon! I can't wait!"
Thor's appearance made Li Yue imagine how cool he would look when his own weapon was complete.
"Ah, yes, the mold for your weapon should be completed. We will forge it immediately. To be honest, I am also eager to see what it looks like!
"It was called the Shang... Shangbaoqin? I must say, this name is too difficult to remember!"
Eitri held the side of his head. He can't remember such an obscure name!
"Eh, I was messing with you. That's not its real name!" Li Yue replied in a defeated tone.
...