After the short meeting with the strange adventurers of Wolfheart, the group continued on the way towards Diana's home. There still was some awkwardness in the air, but Beatrice tried her best to ignore it as she engaged in some small talk with Diana. The boys stood further back, but Earl at the very least joined in whenever the topic interested him. Like fashion, and how glasses can completely change how others view you if you wear them. Which then spiraled into first impressions and clothes. They mostly spoke about what to wear, and Vita quickly decided to focus on other things.
There were already plenty of people walking around, with small pockets of Vita walking around all over the territory called Wolfheart. Nothing was going to happen to them yet, but it was nice to have little pockets of Vita for emergencies or if something else would happen. And hey, if something did happen, then Vita could capitalize on it and get some more good reputation. And with cases like Scar earlier, Vita could observe their bodies.
As it turns out, magic is nonsense. Their bodies are strong, sure. Way better than many other bodies that Vita has examined while in this world. But they aren't strong enough to break the ground and cause cracks in solid walls. But this is where this magical energy or mana or whatever it is called comes in. Based on the temporary memories, Vita managed to look through in Scar and the other adventurers, it seems like that they are funneling mana just like wizards and sorcerers. Expect, they aren't funneling this potential fire bolt into an actual fire bolt, but to and through their bodies. It coated the insides of their bodies passively, greatly strengthening just about everything in every way. More durable, able to do more with it, greater strength and so much more. Yet, based on the memories viewed, there are plenty of limitations as well.
Just like when you overuse your muscles, overusing mana in this way will cause your body to tear itself down much more brutally if you aren't careful. In Scars case, something he has been doing purposefully to harden his skin with scar tissues. Another issue in overuse is that it can cause one to become dependent on ambient mana or areas with heavy amounts of mana in the air. Its almost like how monsters are dependent on mana rich environments and slowly die without such places.
But, with the small sample size that Vita has collected, it is hard to say if it's really worth it or not for Vita to mimic this. Already, with no mana, Vita can manage much better results by mixing Vita cells with muscle cells. A quick and short explanation for why, is that Vita cells don't break as easily as other cells. With the tests done, Vita could in theory, in theory, make a body out of purely Vita cells and outperform the current Wendigo-Vita body. Doing that, however, would be the same as throwing away all the little connections that have been built up and potentially painting a target on Vitas back.
Choices, choices, so many choices.
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It was time for Vita to stop debating the awesomeness of Vita, as the group stood before the gate leading into the Wolfheart mansion. Diana was about to reach out to a magical knocker, made to alert the people inside the mansion that they were there, when she saw one of the maids already on her way to the gate. Pleasantly surprised to see Diana again, the maid quickly let her in and respectfully gushed about how nice it was to see her again. And when Diana asked if her father knew about this surprise visit, the maid let them all know she was leaving to buy some necessities. Giving Diana the perfect moment to surprise her father, and to show off her new friends to him.
And they were more than willing to join in on it, seeing how giddy Diana got at the idea of this. So, with the maid leading the way, they made their way to the mansion. Compared to the grand mansion used by Lady Michelle Rachel Seastar during their get-together, Diana's home was much more relaxed with its art, even gold or other riches weren't to be seen anywhere. It felt like home.
As the party moved towards her father's office, they were informed he would be there by the maids, both Beatrice and Earl got increasingly more nervous. While, they weren't anywhere as nervous as Diana usually got when meeting strangers. And Vita felt like socializing just a little. So with the same gravely voice, Vita asked them both why they were so nervous. Beatrice spoke up first.
“It is just that, I've never really met a noble properly like this. You might've not noticed it, Vita, but there is a pretty big difference in being born as a commoner and being born as a noble.” She said, with an awkward smile. She quickly, however, burst out with a little panic.
“But I don't mean it in a bad way! It's just so different, that's all. I don't think I could ever talk with someone like that scarred adventurer, so easily. And now we're meeting with Dianas father, and I have no clue on how he'll act seeing us.” Diana looked at her friend with an almost hurt expression, before it quickly turned into a friendlier one.
“Don't worry, Beatrice, my dad is super nice to everyone! I've never seen him be angry at anyone, not even when I sneak out of the house. If anything, he'll be super happy to know I brought over proper friends and not someone off the street!” Diana gave her a quick hug to assure her, a hug she returned. A show of friendship that made Vita cringe internally, but Vita let it go and turned slightly to Earl. Being look at directly like this, he fake-coughed to clear his own nervousness before speaking.
“I've never been good at meetings like this. My grandfather never held a good opinion on either nobles or royalty, and would often talk about anything negative done by either of the two. But I hold no doubt, that someone who managed to raise Diana into the person she is now, is a good father at the very least.” Diana moved to hug him as well, but was stopped with a quick 'no thanks' from Earl.
“What about you, Heracles, ever meet a noble before?” Beatrice asked him, seeing how relaxed he was compared to herself. He shrugged while answering with,
“I'll get nervous after seeing Dianas dad. Because so far he seems like a good guy.” He concluded, and after walking around a corner, they stood before the door leading to Kip Wolfhearts office.