Chapter 657 Neural Crawlers

Liam had already started looking around the enormous underground workshop before the dwarf had even finished speaking. His eyes moved from one weapon to another with barely contained excitement, and for a moment the irritating old blacksmith seemed to have completely disappeared from his mind. There were too many extraordinary weapons surrounding him to remain interested in an argument.

A massive black sword resting against a stone pillar immediately caught his attention, its dark surface covered in faint silver patterns that seemed to shift whenever the light from the nearby furnace touched them. A few steps farther away, a spear with a crystalline tip was suspended in the air above a circular platform, rotating slowly as though it were being inspected by invisible hands. Liam had no idea what half the weapons in the room did, but that only made him more interested. If the dwarf was genuinely offering them weapons, Liam was already mentally preparing himself to grab the most ridiculous-looking one he could find.

He took another step toward the nearest display, reaching out slightly as if he were about to inspect a particularly impressive blade, when suddenly the dwarf slammed one foot against the stone floor.

BANG!

The sound echoed throughout the enormous workshop.

Everyone stopped.

Even several of the metallic workers paused for the briefest moment before continuing with their tasks.

Liam slowly turned his head.

The dwarf stood several meters away, his arms folded across his enormous chest as he stared directly at Liam. His expression was one of pure irritation, and the fact that Liam had been caught wandering around before he had finished explaining everything seemed to have offended him personally. He narrowed his eyes and spoke in a voice loud enough to carry throughout the entire chamber. "Stop interrupting me, dumbass." Liam’s eyebrows rose slightly, but before he could answer, the dwarf turned away from him and faced the rest of the group. "Nobody is picking any weapon."

The excitement that had been building inside Liam immediately disappeared.

He stared at the dwarf.

"What?"

The dwarf ignored him.

"The seer gave me a very specific instruction. She told me to create weapons for every one of you, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Not weapons pulled from a shelf. Not weapons chosen at random. I’m talking about weapons created specifically for each of you." His voice became more serious as he spoke, and although he still sounded like the same rude drunk they had met upstairs, there was a strange authority behind his words now. He wasn’t joking. He wasn’t improvising. He had already decided what he was going to do.

The group fell silent.

The implications slowly settled over them.

They weren’t going to choose ordinary weapons from the workshop. This man was going to make something specifically for them. Something that would be designed around their abilities, their fighting styles and perhaps even their weaknesses. The idea alone was incredible. Leonid’s eyes moved across the workshop with renewed interest as he imagined what kind of weapon could possibly complement a vampire’s speed and abilities. Irina looked toward the enormous magical furnaces, clearly wondering what kind of weapon could be created for someone who possessed both werewolf strength and innate ice powers. Tatiana’s expression became quietly excited as she glanced at Liam, while the three witches exchanged looks as they began considering what a weapon specifically designed around their magic might be capable of.

Liam, however, was thinking about something else.

He folded his arms.

"That’s great and all, but how exactly are you planning to create unique weapons for us when you’ve never actually seen us fight?"

The dwarf’s eyes shifted toward him.

For the first time since the conversation began, a small smile appeared on his face.

It wasn’t the ridiculous drunken grin Liam had become accustomed to seeing.

It was almost approving.

"So this idiot does possess some intelligence after all."

Liam’s expression darkened.

"Did you just compliment me while insulting me?"

The dwarf waved him off and continued. "That’s exactly why I called you all here. I need data. I need to know how each of you moves, how you think, how you react when you’re pressured, how you use your abilities, what your bodies naturally favor and what kind of fighting style comes out when you’re pushed beyond your limits."

He stepped away from the group and rubbed his hands together slowly.

"So I’m going to put something inside each of your heads."

Silence.

Every single person stared at him.

Liam’s expression became blank.

"Inside our heads?"

The dwarf nodded casually.

"Then I’m going to send every one of you on a different mission."

The casual tone disappeared from the room.

The dwarf’s eyes became serious.

"And before you ask, yes, they’ll be dangerous. Extremely dangerous. I won’t be sending you to pick flowers or chase little animals around the countryside. You’ll be fighting, surviving and making decisions under circumstances designed to push you to your limits. If you aren’t careful, you might even lose your life."

The workshop suddenly felt much quieter.

Nobody laughed.

Nobody made a joke.

Even Liam’s expression became serious.

Lose their lives?

The dwarf had said it far too casually.

Leonid narrowed his eyes as he studied him, while Tatiana’s expression hardened. Irina’s fingers curled slightly at her sides, and the witches exchanged concerned glances. They had already faced enough danger since leaving Earth to know that those words weren’t empty. This man had no reason to exaggerate.

Liam looked toward the dwarf.

"Exactly how dangerous are we talking?"

The dwarf smiled.

"Enough."

That single word somehow made things worse.

The dwarf then rubbed his palms together once more and turned toward one of the metallic workers. "Bring me the tray."

The metal figure immediately stopped what it was doing.

Its head turned toward the dwarf.

Then it walked away.

The group watched as its metallic feet struck the stone floor with heavy, rhythmic sounds. A few moments later, it returned carrying a strange metallic tray with both hands.

The moment it approached, everyone leaned forward slightly.

There were seven things sitting on the tray.

Liam stared.

His eyebrows slowly climbed.

They were small.

Pale.

Wriggling.

And very much alive.

They looked like strange translucent worms, although their bodies were slightly thicker and far more segmented than anything Liam had seen on Earth. Each one twisted continuously against the metallic surface, their tiny bodies bending and curling as though they were desperately trying to escape.

Liam’s face immediately twisted in disgust.

Irina stepped backward.

"What the hell is that?"

Mary covered her mouth.

"Ewww."

Gregor leaned away from the tray as though it were carrying poison.

Tatiana’s nose wrinkled.

Even Leonid, who had seen enough horrifying things to remain calm in situations that would terrify ordinary people, stared at the creatures with clear suspicion.

The dwarf, meanwhile, looked delighted by their reactions.

"What’s wrong? Never seen a neural crawler before?"

Liam pointed at the tray.

"I don’t care what you call it. Keep that thing away from me."

The dwarf chuckled and walked toward them.

"These little things are going into your brains."

Silence.

Liam’s expression became completely empty.

Everyone stared at the dwarf.

The old man continued as if he had just explained something perfectly normal.

"They’ll remain inside you until you return from your missions. Every time you fight, they’ll record everything. Movement patterns, physical output, ability usage, reaction speed, instinctive decisions, magical fluctuations, weaknesses and even the small habits you don’t realize you’re displaying. They’ll transmit all of that information back here."

He tapped one of the worms gently with his finger.

The creature immediately curled around itself.

"I’ll receive the data here and use it to design your weapons. That way, by the time you return, I’ll know exactly what each of you needs."

The group stared at the tray.

Then they stared at the dwarf.

Then back at the tray.

Slowly, the sheer brilliance of the idea began to sink in.

It was horrifying.

Disgusting.

Deeply invasive.

But it was also incredibly clever.

Instead of guessing what kind of weapons they needed, the dwarf would observe them through the creatures during actual combat. He would see how they fought when they were tired, frightened, surrounded or injured. He would collect information that even they might not know about themselves.

Leonid was the first to seem genuinely impressed.

"So you’re basically using them as living combat recorders."

"Exactly."

Gregor slowly nodded.

"That’s actually brilliant."

Liam turned toward him.

"Why are you agreeing with him?"

Gregor shrugged.

"Because it is."

Liam looked back at the worms.

His face immediately twisted again.

"But there is absolutely no fucking way I’m allowing one of those wobbling things into my brain. Fuck no."

The dwarf looked at him.

Then he smiled.

Not an angry smile.

Not an annoyed one.

A cheeky smile.

Liam immediately became suspicious.

The dwarf waved his hand dismissively.

"You don’t need to worry about that."

Liam frowned.

"Don’t need to worry about what?"

"About letting them into your brain."

The others looked equally confused.

Irina tilted her head.

"What do you mean?"

The dwarf’s smile widened.

Liam’s eyes narrowed.

There was something about the man’s expression that he really didn’t like.

"Why are you smiling like that?"

The dwarf chuckled.

Then he looked directly at Liam.

"Because..."

He paused deliberately, allowing the silence to stretch.

His eyes gleamed with amusement.

"They are already in your brains."