Above the vast rings of Nidavellir, the dwarves continued their work.
They forged tirelessly around the neutron star's core, a mesmerizing heart burning at ten billion degrees Celsius, encased in a special metal.
Heat drawn from the rings flowed through magnetic confinement channels into the dwarves' forges.
Inside, various rare metals fused and stirred together, forming a molten mixture that was then poured into a multitude of molds.
The dwarves' primary task remained providing standard equipment for Asgard and crafting suitable artifacts for the rulers of other planets.
Under Odin's protection, obtaining any powerful artifact naturally required passing Odin's approval first.
After greeting the dwarves of Nidavellir, Garfield found the busy Eitri.
Eitri held a gourd in one hand and was forging a longsword with the other.
"Eitri, busy."
Eitri turned to Garfield flying in the sky and replied enthusiastically, "Not really. Ever since I forged the artifact for you, my prince, I have felt a bit aimless, so I have been making things to pass the time."
"I see. Eitri, I need some special materials. I wonder if you have any here."
Eitri casually tossed the work to a dwarf beside him, instructing him to continue forging the longsword.
He then went to Garfield's side and carefully examined the contents of the materials list.
"It seems you have already been to the Allfather's Treasury. I have most of the remaining items here, but there is one thing you might need to go to Xandar to find those interstellar merchants, or you could go to the Void."
Garfield thought for a moment and decided it was best not to go to Xandar just yet.
It would be a wasted trip if they could not find the item.
The Void was worth a visit, though.
The main business there was mining the head of a dead ancient god.
As for which unfortunate soul could not rest in peace after death, Garfield said he did not know.
Finding the Collector, however, was a promising option.
This seemingly unremarkable fellow was actually quite formidable.
The Collector and the Grandmaster, ruler of Sakaar, are brothers.
Both are gods who have existed in the universe for countless ages, collectively known as the Elders of the Universe.
The Collector is immortal, rumored to have inherited his immortality from Death itself.
He lost a bet with Death and was cursed to never set foot in the realm of the dead.
The Collector already possessed the abilities of time travel and foresight.
Now, with immortality added to his power, he was capable of almost anything.
But even such boundless existence eventually became boring, so he developed a hobby of collecting rare, nearly extinct races, magical artifacts, and even technological wonders.
The Grandmaster, on the other hand, had another passion.
He operated an arena on Sakaar, watching various unique races display their power before him.
Of course, this hobby was not really a hobby in the purest sense.
Like the Collector, the Grandmaster had eventually become mad.
The Collector, relatively speaking, was better off.
At least he occasionally spoke with the rare intelligent beings he encountered in his travels.
As for the Grandmaster, he was a madman with a screw loose, acting strangely and erratically.
People tend to find hobbies when they are bored, let alone an immortal cosmic elder.
If Garfield needed something, the Collector would not be a bad option.
The Collector did not need to possess the item himself.
He just needed to use his connections.
"Very well, I will go to the Void. Oh, and by the way, Eitri, I will get some Star Destroyers and forging factories later. Could you help me choose a resource rich uninhabited star system."
As a renowned forging race in the universe, Eitri naturally knew the distribution of cosmic resources.
He could bypass the major Kree interstellar nations and find a relatively resource rich uninhabited star system.
Eitri patted his chest and assured Garfield, "Do not worry, I have it covered. I am also very curious about what kind of Star Destroyers you have acquired."
In Eitri's eyes, a god like Garfield would not choose anything worthless.
Little did Eitri know that the technology in the Star Wars universe, while seemingly futuristic and advanced, was actually quite haphazard.
The entire universe's technological tree was a misguided mess.
Massive spaceships relied entirely on mechanical buttons and did not use D3 projection for control.
Take the Stormtroopers' armor, for example.
It only offered dust and heat protection, unable to withstand even a single hit from a blaster.
It lacked any protection against poison gas and offered no shooting assistance.
A Stormtrooper who could not kill a single enemy even after firing a hundred bullets was probably a major headache for Palpatine and Anakin in his Darth Vader form.
If the Stormtroopers possessed even a tenth of the Rebels' accuracy, they would not have been so thoroughly defeated by the relatively small Rebel force.
As for the massive Star Destroyers of various models, which could not even defeat the outdated Y wing fighters, there was no point in even mentioning them.
With bodies tens of thousands of meters long and hundreds upon hundreds of anti aircraft guns, their fire control systems were worse than a human aiming by eye.
"Eitri, you had better not think too highly of those ships. You will find out soon enough."
Eitri seemed completely confused by Garfield's words.
Before Eitri could say anything more, Garfield anchored his location in the void, opened a portal, and left.
Garfield opened the door to the outside of the Void.
Looking at the head of a god shrouded in mist, Garfield could not help but sigh again. "What good is being big except attracting too much firepower. Building houses wastes a lot of bricks and cement, and they eat a lot too. Mostly gluttons like their bear brothers."
A god is a god.
Their bones are at least on the level of Uru metal.
Those mining robots have been working here for thousands of years and they have already destroyed a lot of them.
The inside of the Void is even more chaotic, teeming with countless cosmic pirates, outlaws, and helpless civilians struggling to survive.
Not wanting to bother with those useless bastards, Garfield flew directly toward the Collector's location at the very back.
Unaware that he had arrived at the outer edge of the Void, the Collector, Taneleer Tivan, looked up at Garfield in the sky.
A peculiar smile played on Garfield's lips.
Entering the Collector's territory, the first thing Garfield saw was a jumble of odds and ends piled up everywhere.
Glass cases housed various extinct or endangered creatures from across the universe.
Garfield saw a dark elf, a Chitauri, and several other strangely shaped races.
He knew of the dark elf, Malekith, and some of his subordinates who had been hiding in the universe for countless years.
As for the Chitauri, Garfield was quite interested.
Unlike the cyborg Chitauri cannon fodder who served the purple titan in the universe, this was a truly independent and surviving Chitauri.
After glancing at the Chitauri for a moment, Garfield approached the Collector, Taneleer Tivan.
Taneleer Tivan smiled at Garfield. "Honorable guest, are you here to sell yourself."