“Well, if everybody has their weapons ready,” Ette said, “then perhaps we should see how well we can deal with that big rat over there.” She pointed northward, away from the safe area that Gren and Virgil were guarding.

The so-called “little monster” was far too big to be considered a rat, from my point of view. True, as a fairy, I was quite a bit closer to rat-sized than human-sized, but that beast was quite a bit closer to pony-sized than rat-sized. A determined or slightly deranged child could probably ride the thing. Of course, they’d probably have to watch out for the massive incisors, whip-like tail, and scrabbly claws, but so were we.

I edged a bit higher in the air, now a foot or so above head-height for the tallest in our group, and hopefully above easy swiping range, and Daybreak Gleaming broke off from her posing to come and stand at guard between me and the giant rat.

“Hold on, let me toggle on this aura, first,” said Noa as she flipped open first one fan and then the other. Crimson and white, probably useful for signalling, but they also appeared to be the focus for her spells the way Jazmyn’s staff would for her.

Noa said something that sounded a bit like “Nocked and Noted,” and sparkles of red light sprung forth from her crimson fan, tracing a wide circle around her.

“If you stay within that radius,” she said, “you’ll have a small buff to ranged damage.”

“Oh, that reminds me, I have an aura, too. Let me see if it is useful …,” I said and pulled open my list of abilities.

Sirean Auras had one spell within its category, but ... the ability itself was a passive, so perforce the spell it granted was also passive. In a manner of speaking, anyway. Like Noa’s, it toggled on -- making it not entirely passive if I had to activate it -- but also presumably like Noa’s, it remained on once toggled.

“Sirae, Great Goddess of Nature and the Wyld Harvest, by your grace, please grant upon your priestess and her friends your blessing: ⸢Prayer of Evergreen Embrace⸥!”

It was … a little embarrassing to have such an activation chant for the spell, rather than just a long cast time after clicking a hotbar, but that was the price of being a priestess or high priestess, I guess. Pity it wasn’t in Latin or whatever liturgical language existed in DVI, if any. It would have at least sounded a bit more impressive.

My aura, unlike Noa’s, didn’t have a visible demarcation of radius. Instead, everyone in the group -- Daybreak Gleaming included -- glowed very faintly green before a little swirl of an icon appeared above their heads, and presumably on their own HUDs.

“Oh, what’s that do?” Ette asked.

“Non-combat regeneration rate increase,” I said. “Not useful for fighting that monster, but downtime mitigation after. Well, as much mitigation as an unleveled ability from an unleveled healer is going to do, anyway.”

Ette nodded. “Anyone else with pre-combat spells?”

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Jazmyn and Mikachu shook their heads. Noa shrugged, “I do, but … I can only sustain one of these area buffs at a time. Everything else I have is like ‘The target’s next attack within fifteen seconds’ or such.”

“Ah, let me double-check, there’s actually a lot to look through,” I said.

And there was. Granted, I had given it a brief look-over right after the character was completed, and I had looked into each of the abilities as time permitted while travelling and talking, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything important. I had eight spells, after all -- nine if you counted the passive Arcane Faith ability that transformed my personal Mana (MP) into Faith (FP).

And that was a bit of a double-edged sword. With no mana, I couldn’t be affected by any ability that drained or debuffed mana -- it’s never a good thing to have your healer hit by something like that during a tough encounter. But, also, with no mana, I couldn’t receive the benefit from anything that boosted mana, either. That included equipment as well as received buffs. And that was why the ability could be leveled up to higher tiers, granting a larger multiplier to the conversion of mana into faith points.

Other than that and the Prayer of Evergreen Embrace I had already toggled on, I had seven other spells to quickly look over again. Probably none of them would be needed prior to combat, although once I saw how Mikachu maintained aggro as a caster-based shieldwall, she might get a regeneration spell applied prior to combat commencing.

As I re-skimmed my spells, it became apparent that -- as expected -- most were reactive rather than proactive, though I did have two other sustained spells beside the Prayer of Evergreen Embrace.

Both of those were under the Natural Protection ability. Orison of Forgotten Frost was a single-target boost to cold resistance and would probably not be applicable to a fight with a giant rat. The other spell, however, provided a smaller resistance against nature-elemental damage to the entire group: Prayer of Dawning Dewdrops. That might be useful.

Circle of Thorns granted two single-target spells. Bramble Shield was a short-duration buff that granted the target automatic damage dealt in retribution when being struck by an attack - a useful spell to buff a shieldwall with. The other spell, Barbed Roots, was the only spell I had -- so far -- that targeted an enemy. But while an immobilize would be a nice opener, that was a surefire way to put me at the top of the hatelist. NOT where a healer ever wants to be. Better to let Mikachu get the rat’s attention first.

And, of course, there were my healing spells under Wyld Regeneration. I had three, and all of them were a bit different, useful for different situations. The basic spell was Wyld Regrowth, a single-target regeneration spell that unfortunately lowered their fire resistance. Prayer of Wyld Recovery was similar, but it affected the whole group, had a long duration and faster regeneration speed. And … it was only usable once a day. In case of emergency, break cooldown.

The final spell was interesting if a bit niche, but it would probably require a bit of experimenting to get the right timing. Wyld Berry Aura placed a bonus HP buff on the target, effectively acting like an instant heal, but as the bonus HP was depleted -- either through damage received or the buff duration expiring -- the spell placed a short duration regeneration buff on the group. Good for countering splash damage or a little AoE, but not really something to keep up when off cooldown.

“As the dawning dewdrops nourish and protect, please, Great Goddess of Nature, bestow upon your faithful and her allies the subtle aura of protection: ⸢Prayer of Dawning Dewdrops⸥!”

This time, the spell effect was a ripple of green light radiating from my outstretched hand and echoing off everyone in the group, again Daybreak Gleaming included. The green ripple faded, and I saw again the icon for the buff appear over everyone’s head.

I may have missed some implications or interactions in the quick skim I did of the spells, but the girls were waiting, and even a minute or two seems like a long time when you’re itching for a fight to start.

“Alright, if everyone’s ready …? Mikachu, you’re on.”