"Falsarius?" I asked myself. "What is that?"
The tiger scratched his head with his enormous paw.
"I don't know, master. But I have never heard of an ability called Falsarius. As I told you… there are so many that it's impossible to know them all."
"And what is that about Periodic Table and Unknown Element?"
"The Periodic Table is the characterization of the element of your ability," he explained. Upon noticing that I didn't understand him, he spoke more slowly: "…To make it easier for you, imagine that your ability consists of manipulating water, alright? Then, which element of the Periodic Table do you think would relate best to water?"
"Oxygen or Helium," I replied.
"That's right. But in that case, your menu would indicate that you have Two elements from the periodic table. Helium and Oxygen. Do you understand?"
"More or less."
The tiger stirred.
"Menu," he said.
The same screen that I had summoned appeared in front of him. I supposed he must have an enormous amount of experience, since his inventory contained much more information than mine. They looked like tremendous statistics. Although it interested me, I ignored them and focused my attention on the lower section:
[ONLINE USER] [FRAGMENTS: 0] [UNIQUE ABILITY: SON OF THE GOD KUI]
[IN THE PERIODIC TABLE: ELEMENT SULFUR (S), OXYGEN (O), NITROGEN (N)]
"There are three elements," I said.
"Why three? I thought the limit was two."
The tiger was beginning to worry about my cognitive memory. He really didn't believe that I could have forgotten something so elementary.
"What are you talking about, master? There's no limit of elements," he made a negative gesture with his head. "Anyway, as you see, my power is strongly linked to air and fire. After all, that is the heritage granted to me by the God Kui."
"But weren't you a skinwalker?"
The tiger looked increasingly astonished.
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head? Ah! Master, skinwalker is my race. Not a Granted Ability. I can turn into a human, but my ability remains the same. Fire and Air."
"So the abilities are granted."
The tiger was losing patience.
"Look, you know what? Let's just leave it there."
I had no intention of stopping until I understood everything. I continued:
"Basically, all Users receive a Granted Ability. Who grants it to them? Who knows… Anyway, that Granted Ability is one that can be enhanced by using Fragments. There exists a Periodic Table that serves to define the Granted Ability according to the Elements that best relate to it. This relation can be scientific or symbolic. For example, as we saw with water. Now then, what I don't understand is what's the point of that table."
The tiger was grooming his belly with his mouth, just like a cat. I looked at him for a second.
"Does this seem like a joke to you?"
The beast lifted its head. Its gaze seemed very worried.
"I think you should go to a hospital, master," he pronounced like a mother distressed for her child. "You've hurt your head, somewhere."
"But what's so strange about all this?" I said irritably. "I'm just asking you reasonable questions."
"Is it reasonable that someone asks you why you shit and why you drink and why you eat?"
The answer seemed disproportionate to me. I filled my lungs and yelled at him.
"Damn it! I just woke up a moment ago. I was attacked by a giant spider, rescued by a talking tiger. All I can do now is try to make sense of this madness. Don't you see? You said that for two days and two nights you would help me! Then do it now."
The tiger didn't flinch. For a moment, he looked at me as if I were a lost case, but he gave in to my pleas.
"The Periodic Table," he said, sighing, "is a practical way to use the Fragments. For example, if you wanted to improve your control over Air, you would invest your Fragments in the element Argon, which is the stabilizer. If you wanted to enhance Fire, then you would invest your Fragments in Oxygen, since without it fire goes out. And so on…"
I stayed thinking for a while. It made sense. The Fragments were basically enhancers. Suddenly, I felt that something was escaping me.
"Wait…" I analyzed what I had just heard until finally I found the inconsistency. "You talked about Argon, but in your inventory Argon doesn't appear. Does that mean you don't have control over Fire?"
"That's right."
The tiger made a grim gesture.
"And that's it? You'll never be able to control fire?"
The tiger shook his head.
"No. Never."
I was stunned. What was the point of an ability if it was unusable?
"I think I understand," I concluded. "Another question is where the Fragments can be obtained."
"By completing missions. You just fled from the Owner of the Nest, didn't you?"
"That's right! So basically, if I complete a mission, I receive Fragments. Those Fragments serve to enhance the periodic elements of my Granted Ability. With that, my ability grows and becomes more dangerous."
"You've understood it perfectly."
I looked at my inventory.
[ONLINE USER] [FRAGMENTS: 300] [UNIQUE ABILITY: FALSARIUS]
[IN THE PERIODIC TABLE: UNKNOWN ELEMENT]
"Damn! And how am I supposed to enhance my ability if I don't even have an Element?" I grabbed my hair. "This is useless!"
On top of not understanding a damn thing that was happening, now I had to deal with a limitation. Would the same thing happen to June? I didn't know if the world had gone to hell or if I was in a hospital because of gas poisoning from my kitchen. In any case, it was hard to deal with a mountain of new information for which you weren't prepared and that could determine whether you lived or died.
That dark enclosure, that compressed state of matter, was the clearest reflection of my head at this moment. The tiger kept staring at a fixed point.
"It's a riddle," he also accepted. "I don't know anyone to whom it has happened. Everyone always has their predetermined elements. But I suppose you'll have to discover it on your own."
"On my own? Are you kidding?"
Suddenly, the tiger shrank. In the darkness, his body shone like a flame and was covered with a layer of smoke that smelled of cotton candy. A second later, it changed form.
"You're…!" I was left speechless. "You're a woman!"
The smoke disappeared like a curtain being lowered. Onto the stage came a beautiful woman.
"At least you have me for now," she said, ignoring the comment. "Follow me!"