Almost as one, we sank to the ground to rest as soon as the fight was over. Or, rather, Ace, Ka’Moni, and Daybreak Gleaming plopped down in the grass, and I fluttered down to land on Daybreak Gleaming’s back where I patted her neck, and fingerbrushed part of her mane. “You did good, girl,” I whispered to her.

Ace resummoned their fallen golems, and Ka’Moni looked across at them. “You really have nothing other than the golems right now? You sure got the short end of the stick,” she said. Glancing at one of the wooden figures, she continued. “Pun not intended, sorry.”

Ace shook their head, “I have four abilities, but only one lets me do anything right now. Two are passive, but the other has a zero after it. I have the ability, but not spells or skills in it yet. Literally, the only thing I can do is Summon Basic Wood Golem from the Wood Golems ability. Everything else is zeroes or exes.”

“What are the abilities, Ace?” I asked as I continued to praise and pet my wooden unicorn. She may technically be a weapon and may attack according to my intent, but she still deserved a reward for her role in the fight.

“Hmmm, they are Golemancer Group Control -- that’s my locked class passive. It’s what gives me the additional SP to summon the golems with. When I tier it up some more, I’ll be able to have a lot more golems out doing things. But five -- six with your ability Rie -- is still a lot to start with, I think.”

I nodded. “Noa, her class is tactician, only gets one SP to start with, and she has several auras to have to choose from. Starting with five is a lot compared to what I’ve seen other people start with.”

“Yeah. Anyway, I already mentioned Wood Golems. Then there’s Augment Automata, which will let me buff my golems once I actually have some spells in it. I might have to tier up the ability before I get to take a spell, though.” They frowned. “It will pay off in the long run, I think. Just got to get there first.”

“Yeah, if you can boost the damage they do or reduce the damage they take -- like Ka’Moni’s cheers did -- that would probably help a lot. What’s the last one?” I asked.

“Golemic Role Assignments. It’s a passive, but I don’t have anything under it yet. It might also have to tier up before I can get something for it. What it’s supposed to do is let me give my golems classes of their own. Then I can have one be a shieldwall, another be a true damage dealer of some sort ….”

“Oh!” Ka’Moni interrupted, “and you can have some of them be cheerleaders. Then my Squad Choreography ability can work with them.”

“That’s an idea,” I said.

But Ace looked unconvinced. “I probably can’t do fancy classes right away,” they said. “If I am reading the description correctly, I get one basic class per skill I gain under it. I don’t think ‘cheerleader’ counts as a basic class.”

“It’s only R+,” Ka’Moni said, “Rare, but not that rare. At least, in theory. I’m actually probably unique on the server right now unless someone from across the bay tried the same thing. Or maybe an adult, someone wanting to relive part of her high school years.”

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Ace shrugged. “We’ll see. Anyway, where did those adds come from? I thought the rats conned neutral?”

“Neutral just means they won’t attack unprovoked,” I answered. “If they see you fighting a friend, I guess that counts as provocation. As for where they came from? Either we -- me -- didn’t have a good enough eye on the area, didn’t notice them hiding in the tall grass, or perhaps they spawned in too close after we had already started the fight. We got through it, though. Your little golems did a good job holding the rats back, and Ka’Moni’s cheers helped reduce the damage they were taking.”

“Yeah, they did.” Then Ace stood up, stretched, and looked at Ka’Moni, who was still flopped out on the ground. “Why didn’t you use them before?”

“We didn’t need them before,” Ka’Moni replied, pushing herself into a sitting position and stretching her legs. “This time, we did. At least some of them. The inspirations take mana, but so do my fancy kicks. I need to figure out the balance there. The other two, from Team Spirit, they’re sustained powers. They don’t need mana, but they take up an SP and require that the cheer is renewed periodically.”

“That sounds inconvenient,” Ace said.

“Well, think about at a sports game. We don’t just cheer once at the start of the match and let that carry the team until halftime or the quarter or the set. Of course, we also aren’t kicking big rats during the game, either.” She smiled ruefully. “Another bit to find the balance between fighting and supporting. But it’s only day two. We’ll get there.”

“The balance will be different with Jazmyn and Noa and Mikachu, too,” I pointed out. “Damage, more support, and an actual shieldwall to hold the monster’s attention. But with a bigger group, and a few levels, we’ll also start fighting tougher monsters, too.”

“True. Well, we’ll see.” She rolled forward out of her stretch and bounced into a standing position, too. “My mana’s all back. Ready to fight again? Though, let’s keep it to simple fights for a bit, if we can.”

“Yeah,” I patted Daybreak Gleaming’s neck and jumped skyward, hovering at head-height for Ace and Ka’Moni. “Let’s head that way a little,” I pointed on a path perpendicular to the wall, “out a bit, but not too far. Gotta be able to run back to safety if we need to.”

While we were hunting down the next little monster, I flew a bit closer to Ka’Moni. “I was meaning to ask,” I said, “but what was that about ‘Fairy Queen Spirit’ in your cheers?”

“Oh, that? Well, we aren’t the Fishermen right now, nor the Bulldogs from Hilltop, nor whatever they are across the bay. It’s the first thing that came to mind, since you’re the leader. Why?” she replied.

“I’m a Priestess, High Priestess, not a Queen,” I said.

“Too many syllables,” Ka’Moni pointed out.

“Moreover, we’re all on the Chipac team, the server team, not the Fairy team, so shouldn’t the cheers refer to the server or city mascot instead?” I said.

“What’s the mascot for the server?” Ka’Moni asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Then it might as well be a fairy,” Ka’Moni flashed me a smile. “Right? Hey, Ace, don’t you think Rie would make a good mascot? She’s cute and the right size, right?”

Ace shrugged. “I think Mom and Dad are going to make her the mascot of their patiss-- whatever that word is, bakery.”

“What! How do you figure that?” I asked.

“They were talking about calling it the Pixiewing Patiss-- whatever that French word is. Also, you’re too small to do chores for them or take a turn behind the till or whatever they’re planning, so ….”

“Ugh! Objection!”

“Hey, don’t tell me that. Tell them that,” Ace pointed out.