The feeling's of joy and hope could not be described as Mateo watched FragHIM summon cool looking weapons, armour and accessories before mumbling "not good enough" or "too weak for him", then dumping it on the floor before him.
With an "aha, I've finally found it" from FragHIM, Mateo looked on expectantly with wide eyes as FragHIM brought forth... a pebble. The smoothest, most ordinary looking pebble ever seen.
Still hopeful, Mateo waited for FragHIM to tell him that the pebble was some ancient cursed artifact with some cool overpowered features, after all, the best artifacts almost always hid in plain sight.
Passing the pebble to Mateo, FragHIM was about stating its use before he had to stop, because Mateo bit his hand and drew blood, letting it drip on the pebble.
"Are you mad, boy. Why would you do that." shouted FragHIM.
"Why, is there a problem?" asked Mateo.
"Of course there is a problem. I just healed your wounds not too long ago. If you wanted to bleed out you should have just told me not to heal you. God knows I never mistook you for the masochist type. Well I guess that explains why your plan involved getting hurt."
Seeing that the old man before him was getting the wrong idea, Mateo decided to explain his actions to prevent his good name from being besmirched by another person besides Leone.
"Old man, from all the novels and anime I've seen, anytime the main character got his hands on an artifact, they drip some of their blood on it either to awaken it or bind it, sometimes both, and so I decided to try it."
"Welp that confirms it. I'm afraid to be the one to tell you this but, lad... you are mentally challenged and there is no cure in the multiverse for your condition."
"Really??" asked Mateo, saddened by the news.
"Aye, am afraid so, because it is common knowledge that novels and animes are COMPLETELY FICTIONAL AND SHOULD NOT BE USED AS A BASIS FOR DECISION-MAKING. And what is this obsession about being the main character. Boy if there was a main character in this universe, it definitely wouldn't be you. It would probably be one of those dragon prince's." shouted FragHIM, losing his temper midway and letting crucial information slip out in the midst of his anger.
Ignoring the naysayer in front of him try to crush his dreams, Mateo focused on the piece of information he had gotten.
There was a multiverse, dragons existed meaning other races also existed. This confirmed the presence of other mythical races and proved that fantasy books should be used as a life guide manual.
And most importantly, he should focus on unlocking his charm stat and upgrading it like he would soon be doing to his stamina stat, cause you never know when you could get lucky.
Secretly reading Mateo's mind, FragHIM was pleased when Mateo picked up his hidden message and set a target for himself, but this pride was quickly destroyed the more he read his mind until he quickly had to leave it due to the nasty thoughts being generated.
Clearing his throat to catch Mateo's attention, FragHIM finally told Mateo the name of the pebble and its purpose. "The name of this pebble is DIMENSION SEEKER and like it's name implies, it shows you hidden realmd and pockets of space that would otherwise not be found by normal means."
"Yeah, like I'm supposed to believe that. Heck, it would be better if you told me that it's name is dream catcher and it's purpose is to help me wake up to reality than it being some legendary realm hunting artifact. I'm not a kid you know."
"Hmm. Ah well, believe what you want, just know that I have no need to lie to you. And by the way, it's bound to you because of that blood ritual you did, so good luck selling or trading it."
"What. How did you know- wait you can read my mind. Guess you truly are very powerful despite being only a fragment. Wait so all this while you've been reading my mind. How much did you see?"
"More than enough to last me a lifetime you perverted little brat. More than enough."
"Tsk. That serves you right. Next time you won't go about reading people's minds without their permission like a perverted old man."
"What. Have you no shame at all. *Sighs* you should probably by something with all the coins you have before I send you back to Earth." advised FragHIM.
Quickly scrolling through the universe market, Mateo found two items he would like to buy, but his finance tab said otherwise. The total cost of both items was 7500 coins, roughly 200 more than his new balance. He was about choosing only one when a comment from FragHIM stopped him.
"You know you a pioneer's discount on everything from the universal market right. Go to the upper right side of the display. There is a section marked discounts mentally tap on it and select the pioneer's discount to activate it."
Not even bothering to ask why it wasn't already activated, Mateo followed the steps and activated the discount. He was left with about 150 coins after his two purchases, deciding not to use them, he was about asking to be sent home when FragHIM spoke again.
"The discount wasn't activated because it is not the only one you can get. There are other discounts, better ones but sadly they have a limit on the number of purchases they can be used for or they are location bound. And no I didn't have to read your mind, your facial expressions are enough.
One last piece of advice, focus on getting stronger first, and your dreams and fantasies would follow. Till next time."
With a kind smile on his aged face, FragHIM sent Mateo on his way to Earth just like last time, by using teleportation magic.
"Wow. You really do like this kid, don't you." a familiar voice, the white FragHIM's voice, said.
"Hmm. There's just something about him. I know you can sense it as well so don't pretend."
"*Sigh* I know. That's why I feel bad for him. Everyone else who caught a Fragment's attention did not meet a good end. Poor kid, his journey ended before it even began. See you later"
And with that, one of the FragHIMs representing the Law and Order attributes of the main body vanished, off to maintain balance in the universe.