After a while, Xiyadie finished her sermon and sat down. However, she seemed uncomfortable and kept on fidgeting in her seat, causing Quinlan to turn to her in puzzlement.
"What's wrong?"
Unable to keep watching her, Quinlan decided to just ask her directly. Xiyadie looked embarrassed, but after a short sigh, she asked. "Young Lady Yinuo, can I leave for a short while? I'll just take a short break at the restroom."
"..."
Of course, Quinlan didn't have the heart to forbid her from going. After he nodded his head, Xiyadie quickly left the room with a trot. Finally left alone, Quinlan turned to look at the last System Window that was floating in his view.
Without raising his expectations too high, he clicked the "accept" button on the panel. As soon as he did, a ball of light appeared before him. The light constantly changes shape, like an amorphous material.
Curious about it, Quinlan cautiously extended his finger, touching the light. As soon as he did, a blinding flash of light robbed him of his vision for a moment. After a while of rubbing his eyes, he turned to look before him and found a single familiar tool. A piece of metal that looked like a small rectangular bar with a small U-shaped protrusion on both ends.
"... A wrench?"
Just as he was wondering, a window suddenly appeared before him, as if to explain.
[Congratulations! Your Unknown reward transformed into a Spiritual Artifact, the Variable Multitool x1!]
[Variable Multitool: A Spiritual Artifact that could change into various shapes, as long as the user could imagine their shape and purpose accurately.]
[Default appearance: Wrench]
"A multitool...!" Quilnan cheered instantly, grabbing the wrench and testing its features.
As soon as he imagines a different tool, like a hammer or a hacksaw, the Variable Multitool transforms immediately. However, he found out its weakness almost immediately.
"It can't reproduce power tools that use electricity..."
If it could transform into something like a hand drill or a sander, then his life would definitely become a lot easier. "Still, it could transform into any manual tool at will... But is it only limited to mechanic tools?"
An idea appeared in Quinlan's head, causing him to immediately try it out. He focused, sharpening the image in his head and clarifying the purpose of it. At that moment, the multitool reacted and changed shape in accordance with his thoughts.
"...!"
In his hand was now a normal-looking sword. From any angle, it looked like just that—a normal sword. However, Quinlan was extremely careful in handling it, as if he were holding a bomb or something. "Let's try to see if it works."
Slowly, without much momentum, Quinlan waved the sword toward one of the bed's posts. At that moment, as if it were some sort of magic trick, the sword slowly, but effortlessly, went past the post. Seeing this, Quinlan gasped in joyous surprise.
"It worked! A Vibration Blade!"
The sword, despite looking no different than any normal sword, actually had a small peculiarity. Its edge was shaped like a microscopic saw and moved left and right at high speeds through the repelling forces of each metal molecule. A weapon that was impossible to make without intensive knowledge of nanosystems!
*Knock!* *Knock!* *Knock!*
Just as he was about to try and chop the post once more, a series of knocks from the door followed by a mellow voice of Xiyadie calling from the other side.
"Young Lady, it seems like the family head wants to have a word with you."
Quinlan could already guess what the talk would be about, so he frowned. "Alright. It's in the main hall, right? I'll come soon."
He may have been sleeping for almost two days, but fortunately, his body didn't feel lethargic or out of energy. Rather, he felt like he could run a marathon twice over with how he was overflowing with energy right now.
"Ah, before I forget."
With a single thought, the Multitool transformed once more, taking on the appearance of a bracelet. Quinlan wore it on his left arm and checked its appearance once, confirming that it didn't stand out or anything, looking like a normal silver accessory.
After that, he grabbed a random robe hanging near the entrance and wore it over his plain white, loose robe, letting him be a little more presentable. After fastening it with a string near the waist and checking that it wasn't gonna fall off or anything, Quinlan then exited through the door and began walking.
Behind him, Xiyadie silently followed. He thought she went ahead to relay his words, but it seemed she waited for Quinlan to come out instead. The two went straight to the main hall, which was just across the dining hall. There, as soon as Quinlan entered, all eyes landed on him, causing him to flinch for a short instant.
"I've responded to your summons, Father," Quinlan announced as he bowed his head lightly, cupping his hands before him.
Meng Hanxiao, the family head, nodded lightly in recognition of his greeting. "Sit down," he said as he motioned to one of the houses' workers, who carried a single chair to the center of the room.
Quinlan hesitated for a moment but realized that there was no escaping this. Having no choice, he sat down on the chair gracefully, his body ramrod straight with his hands lightly resting on top of his lap.
"Yinuo, my daughter. Xiyadie must've told you what happened, right? Can you share your side of the story with us?"
Just as he noticed that Quinlan was getting comfortable in his seat, the family head decided to finally go straight to the point. As he expected, the question was regarding the assassin's attack the night before.
'Where do I begin...'
Quinlan started to organize the facts he knew in his head. One was that the Kang Sect was involved in the Xiyadie Kidnapping incident, and another was that Yinuo killed one of them, earning their ire. Other than these parts hinted at by the system, he's completely clueless.
'No choice but to lie my way out again...'
Deciding so, he took a deep breath and opened his mouth, explaining. "Actually, that night..."