The atmosphere in the vast manor fell silent after Hela's appearance.
"Damn it!"
Finally, it was Ego's angry curse from the video that broke the awkward silence.
"You, are you Odin's daughter, Hela?"
The Collector waved his hand, pretending nothing had happened, rolled the chip into his pocket, and then reopened the conversation.
"Your father mentioned you to me."
"My father also mentioned you to me," Hela shrugged and replied.
In broad daylight, under the vast sky, Hela truly never imagined that the dignified Celestial, the Collector, would have such a unique hobby as two grown men gathered around watching that thing.
Has he lived too long and gone insane?
Recalling Odin's introduction to the Collector—a life that had existed since the birth of the universe—Hela suddenly understood.
"Odin really should upgrade your Asgardian transportation system."
Perhaps sensing Hela's doubtful gaze, the Collector immediately changed the subject.
No matter how swift a horse, it still has its limits.
Unless it stops being a horse.
"Perhaps," the Collector proactively changed the topic. Hela, naturally, wouldn't be so tactless as to continue pressing the issue. She turned and took out the card her father had given her before she left, handing it to the Collector.
"Follow me. Of course, Robin, you too. This matter concerns you as well."
Taking the card, the Collector lightly rubbed the raised bottom with his right index finger. After feeling Odin's energy fluctuations, he smiled and put away the card, stepping onto his new toy and turning to walk into the manor.
Seeing the slaves who had guests arrive put aside their anxious thoughts, they bowed respectfully to the three before retreating.
"What's the situation in the Nine Realms now?"
Entering the manor and pushing open the door to the storeroom, countless dazzling collections met Hela's eyes.
These were all precious treasures the Collector had gathered over the years while hiding on Knowhere, each one priceless.
"I heard before that Malekith, who controlled the Aether, had revived. Odin shouldn't be doing too well right now."
Recalling the spirited Odin of his youth, the Collector couldn't help but smile.
Those days had indeed brought him a long-lost joy, but Odin was, after all, a man with a legacy to inherit.
"He's dead."
"What did you say?" The Collector paused, his voice tinged with surprise.
"Odin killed him?"
"No, it was Thanos."
Hela shook her head. When mentioning Thanos's name, the image that surfaced in her mind was that of a golden-haired, blue-eyed figure.
With a flash of Thanos's blade, Malekith's head fell.
Thus ending his wicked life.
But before Thanos, it was the man who called himself a Super Saiyan, surpassing Saiyans, who left the deepest impression on Hela.
"That survivor of the Titan?"
"He was indeed a formidable fellow." The Collector stopped in front of a cabinet displaying a collection.
"However, this makes me understand why Odin wanted this thing."
A tattered map was handed to Hela by the Collector himself.
"It seems he must have felt pressured."
Hela took the map and looked it over, but couldn't make out anything.
She couldn't understand why her father Odin would place such importance on this broken map, even sending her to such a distant place to retrieve it personally on the eve of a decisive battle with the Frost Giants.
"Vormir?"
"What is this place?"
The destination marked on the map was a planet Hela had never heard of.
"It's an extremely desolate place, but there exists a power there that the current Odin desperately needs."
After handing the tattered old map to Hela, the Collector, with his hands behind his back, stepped onto his new hovering toy and slowly led the two behind him towards another side of the storeroom.
"A power that Father desperately needs now?"
Hela was confused.
Her father, Odin, could be considered the foremost figure in the Nine Realms. After Malekith's death, Laufey of Jotunheim alone was not enough to resist Asgard's conquest.
In such a situation, what other power could he possibly need?
"Have you heard of the Infinity Stones?"
Abruptly, the Collector turned around, his eyes fixed on Hela.
"What?" Hela frowned.
She remembered Beckett mentioning that the Aether in Malekith's hand was the legendary Reality Stone.
"It's one of the powers that existed at the birth of this universe, and the power that exists on this planet Vormir is one of the six Infinity Stones."
"It represents... the soul."
[Soul?]
As a god-race warrior who had awakened Death Divinity, Hela's first thought upon hearing the word was of her own special abilities.
"I don't know why Odin suddenly wants to take this map from me, but since he's taken my collection, you must give me something I'm very interested in."
He led Hela to the experimental area on the other side of the storage room.
"This is..."
Blue fluorescence flowed through dense pipes, and at the end of these pipes was a floating glass bottle.
Inside this glass bottle was a flower in bud.
"Once this magnificent collection is fully formed, you can take the map," the Collector said, with his hands behind his back, bending down to get close to the glass bottle.
"What is this?"
Hela, completely unaware of what this thing was, asked in a hushed voice.
"Robin."
The Collector snapped his fingers and pointed to the man who had been following him silently.
"That is the Flower of Life."
Robin, with his helmet clipped to his waist, spoke in a steady, powerful voice.
"Nourished by stardust and the galaxy, the Flower of Life, once formed, will never wither and will bloom forever in the silent universe."
There was one more sentence Robin didn't say.
That was, the flower's life-nourishing effect was completely insignificant to the Collector. The only reason he was willing to spend thirty million years cultivating this flower on Knowhere was because the moment the flower bloomed was beautiful.
Yes, the Collector was that bored.
Of course, it could also be said that this was a pursuit, a pursuit full of style.
"What do I need to do?"
Hela didn't quite understand, as she had never heard of this thing.
"Kill this man, find his true form, and take his Star Core."
The Collector raised the chip in his hand, and Ego, clothed, appeared at the very beginning of the video.
"This is the fastest way right now."
"Who is he?"
Hela frowned, watching the man in the video dance with a woman in a manor.
To maintain his elder image, the Collector pressed pause, and the video frame froze at the moment the man confidently raised an eyebrow.
"His name is Ego."
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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