Dio shook his head. He didn’t know much about the Country of Gems, but he had already heard some rumours about it. The former Gems Country was a beautiful place. The Gem People that lived there, as the name suggested, were Human-Shaped Gems. They had magic that corresponded with their elemental and gems’ colour.
There were Gem People with Ice elemental Gems who could use powerful ice magic, which was very unique and rare among other races in the universe! But one day, the peaceful and beautiful country was torn apart! A bounty hunter found their place and captured the Gem People to then sell them on the black market!
It attracted many eyes to them and many people went crazy for their beauty too! The demand for the Gem People in the black market skyrocketed, and it was the precursor of an annihilation! The Gem People chose death over being enslaved by another race. They burned their soul and left an empty husk of gems behind, losing its colour and value altogether!
But sadly for the Gem People, it didn’t deter the bounty hunter and the enslaver as the value of capturing the Gem People alive became monumental! The black market didn’t care whether the Gem People went extinct or not, they only cared about their own profit, and thus the bounty hunter kept coming for the request of the new Gem People.
It was known that a living Gem People hadn’t been seen for a very long time. Well, at the very least, this was the first time Dio ever laid his eyes on the living Gem People! Obviously, Dio wouldn’t know how much money Tivan would give to take such a beautiful specimen for himself!
“Claudia’s Gem is called Morganite. This pink gem has always been popular among the noblewomen in the entire universe, and for the Living Morganite that is supposed to be the last one in the universe, Claudia is priceless and indispensable!” Tivan said as he noticed that Dio didn’t seem to know how much money he spent to get his hand on Claudia.
Tivan himself didn’t care about money! The only thing he cared about was his collection! He didn’t care whether it was alive or just a simple carcass. If he encountered something that piqued his interest, he wouldn’t stop until he got his hand on it!
Tivan would be judged morally if he lived on Earth. Fortunately for him, it was a common practice in the universe other than Earth! The so-called morality here wasn’t really important at all! The rules were there to restraint the weak from doing anything that the strong would hate to do! The morality of the person would be distorted among others, and thus he knew that he couldn’t just judge Tivan’s hobby!
But as a man coming from Earth, Dio couldn’t relate at all with Tivan! Although Dio was a little bit crude around the edges himself, he wasn’t comfortable doing something unjust to innocent people! It was his upbringing, as his parents kept saying that innocent people shouldn’t be judged for what they didn’t do!
Then again, Dio knew there was nothing he could do. He knew from the first time he was here that Tivan also kept a Dark Elf in his collection. Although Dio wanted to save the Dark Elf from Tivan, it wasn’t something that he would take a risk for. He just didn’t want to lose Tivan as his informant either!
Furthermore, Tivan and his hobby got nothing to do with Dio! He wasn’t grieved by anything Tivan did, and so Dio never considered Tivan as an enemy! He didn’t know who the Dark Elf in Tivan’s collection was, and thus he didn’t really care about him. But if Tivan had Mappedoff in his captive instead, it would be a different matter altogether!
Dio has always been a selfish person since he was a child. It was his defense mechanism to face the injustice around him. It was also his method to not get involved with unnecessary problems!
“I need information! I need you to find someone for me!” Dio said after a little tour of Tivan’s collection. Dio stated his reason to come here bluntly as he knew Tivan was a man of words. He mentioned earlier that Dio was already considered a friend, so Tivan would always treat Dio like one until it wasn’t! Still, Dio knew that Tivan wouldn’t do anything for free! He knew that Tivan would ask something absurd as Dio’s payment!
Tivan then stopped and thought for a while before taking Dio to the reception room.
“Let’s talk about it here! The conversation we’re going to have will be strictly confidential! This room was made for it!” Tivan said cautiously. Tivan already guessed that Dio visited him for something important. Otherwise, Dio wouldn’t even consider coming to Tivan for information!
“I want to find the Grandmaster! En Dwi Gast! It doesn’t matter whether he comes to me or I go to where he is, but the most important thing is that I want to meet with him!” Dio said confidently. Tivan frowned a little bit after hearing what Dio had to say. He sure didn’t expect Dio to ask this kind of question, but suddenly Tivan smiled.
“I remember the last time you got what you wanted from me, didn’t you see him then?” Tivan asked, still with a smile on his face.
“Tivan, with your intelligence and information network, I know that you know that you shouldn’t push my patience like that!” Dio said coldly, revealing the danger behind his arrogancy.
Tivan was silent for a while as Dio was absolutely right. As half of the universe’s living creatures were reduced to ashes, Tivan would surely investigate what happened. He definitely would figure out who was behind all this madness and what the person did to achieve such a feat!
Furthermore, it wasn’t even a confidential information! Thanos’ advance towards Earth was rather well-known, and even the Grandmaster’s involvement afterward! As long as he was still alive, Tivan would always feel the connection with the Grandmaster, his brother!
This was also the reason why Dio chose to go to Tivan for information!
“I am sorry, but it wasn’t just you who were looking for the said information! Almost everyone who knows what happened to the universe was looking for him too! But what makes you think I would be different!?” Tivan said with a frown on his face.
Although no one could say for sure why these people were searching for the Grandmaster, it would probably be an individual reason! Maybe it was to resurrect a person they loved or get more money or something like that!
The people who already saw what the Infinity Stones could do would probably hunt the Grandmaster to get the Infinity Stones for themself. Tivan knew that he didn’t have to answer the other people’s questions at all! But he knew that he himself would never get his hands on the Infinity Stones as long as it was still in the Grandmaster’s hands!
Not to mention, it was a request that came from someone like Dio himself! After all, destroying the whole place wouldn’t be surprising if Dio so wished it!