Barrier technology was perhaps among the most relevant things brought over to Earth when the permanent rifts were established. With it, things which could only be seen as miracles in the past could be performed at the flip of a switch. Easy to move and easy to switch on, with a sufficient power source and enough barriers, it was possible to even deter nature itself.

While it was still a fairly expensive technology, and far from being in the hands of the everyman, it was without a doubt indispensable to the guilds' work.

…

"Ms. Quies, I have Director Oryza on the line." Mathas said.

Back in the command center, Oryza had just received word that the head of the scouts department, Quies, had arrived at the red-nill rift event at the airport in district 17 of Singapore.

"This is Quies." The Avis woman's voice was crisp and clear through the call line.

"I hear you loud and clear. Go ahead and report your situation."

"At the moment, I'm maintaining an altitude of 200 meters in the airspace directly over the rift. The rift has manifested over one of the runways and I can see light and a lot of condensation spilling out. I will be heading in to assess the rift on the other side."

"That is fine. We've already notified the airport of the situation. They will be keeping the runway clear."

There were two main risk factors of a rift event, and it was up to the Scouts Department to gauge the risks of both of them.

The first was the ever present dangers of an outbreak event, where the creatures native to Arca Archa wander through the rift and appear as a threat to society. Although the scope of the dangers varied by a wide margin, they were all treated with the same degree of caution and attentiveness. It was up to the Vanguard and Sieges Departments to make sure as little damage spread to the surrounding areas as possible.

The second factor was the environmental hazards of Arca Archa, and these could be just as much of a problem, and at times could be even more troublesome than a serious outbreak event. Due to the slightly denser atmosphere that Arca Archa had, combined with the fact that the rifts were a doorway that connected two spaces together like one huge Anywhere Door, it made it very easy for things on the other side to naturally spill over. Although it was straightforward to stop a rampaging beast that had crossed the rift, it was significantly harder to deter nature itself during an environmental outbreak.

Even if in most occasions the environment risks were harmless and did not pose a danger, there were still locations on Arca Archa which had the potential to cause a legitimate crisis if allowed to encroach onto Earth. Lesser examples of these would be poisonous swamps, lightning rain, or even necrotic grounds. And worst of all would be the disaster zones caused by a chaotic aether flow, such as the aether storms that could disable electronics and render most artes useless in its vicinity. And to add a cherry on top, life always found a way, and even in such inhospitable areas were still creatures which had the potential to cause a serious outbreak event.

That was why the SCs were an absolute necessity with their skillset to make quick decisions and safely scout out the dangers on the other side of a rift. In a typical situation, once they have arrived at the location of a rift event, they would set up a quick perimeter using multiple FBDSs, or field barrier deployment systems, and that space would serve as both their camp and as a quarantine for the rift event. From there, they would then send their drones in to test the waters, and if the coast was clear, then they could proceed to the next steps of crossing over and actually start on the evaluation of the rift event, while taking all the precautions they could.

There was a need for a lot of manpower for the SCs— from keeping personnel on either side of the rift to relay communication with the command center, to keeping a lookout, and to maintaining the FBDSs. And that excluded the personnel in the actual expedition team itself, whose responsibilities included taking samples of the environment, surveying the land, and noting down all of the local fauna and flora. Due to this, the SCs often deployed with no less than forty members, and preferably double that number, which was a stark difference to the VGs which were each just one elite squadron with little more than six or nine people, though they did have just as many people supporting them as there were members in a Scouts team.

Quies however, had the surveying capacity of an entire team of people, and boasted the wantonness to go about on the other side of the rift to back it up. This was in part due to her ability to soar through the sky like a bird, but also largely due to the relic grade artefact in her possession, which projected a powerful sanctuary effect onto the wearer.

It was an artefact that even a human could use and she had let Oryza feel the effects of it just once before. Shimmering with the luster of Alabaster Gold, it was a ring shaped artefact that warded the wearer against outside mental interference, environmental effects, status ailments, and even the effects of pressure differentials, in addition to maintaining body temperature and even eliminating the necessity to breathe. It was the ultimate survival artefact and putting it on was akin to putting on a spacesuit— no, it was even better than that.

Yet, there was one caveat to this wonder tool, and that was it only had the ability to ward, and not the ability to cure. A hypothesis that Quies had about the artefact was that it projected a barrier around the wearer so powerful it stopped the wearer's time. But regardless of the specifics of how it worked, she preferred to never take it off. And according to her, it was a priceless artefact which aethertech was still far off from having the means to recreate. She had kindly requested Oryza not to ask any further questions about the artefact, or of the means which it had come to her possession.

But it was due to the protection of this artefact that the head of scouts was able to always delve headfirst into a rift without much concern for her own immediate safety from environmental hazards. And even if she were to run into any creatures that may pose a danger to her, her maneuverability in the air easily allowed her to outstrip any purseurers. Under these circumstances, she was the perfect scout in any situation.

But why bother with all this if it was possible to simply seal off the rift with layers upon layers of barriers? There would be no need for the SGs if the SCs could simply arrive first to all rift events and do their miracle work. The answer was a simple one. Limited resources. The guild simply did not have enough equipment to go around putting dozens of FBDSs into place at the location of every rift event for an indeterminate amount of time until the rift decided to close on its own. Everyone at the guild had their own role to fulfill. And the SCs' job was in determining the amount of resources allocated to any particular rift event.

"Members of SCT Noctua and SCT Accipiter will be coming to assist you. They will be arriving within the next 25 minutes." Oryza told Quies. But even if she was the perfect scout, in the end she was still only just one person. She could not both survey the rift and maintain a barrier to quarantine it at the same time, nor could she keep contact with headquarters once inside, or keep a look out for outbreaks. There were things which remained impossible for her to achieve by herself.

"Understood. I will be crossing the rift now. Going dark."

"Stay safe."

With that, the transmission ended.

…

The world changed in an instant. It was a literal difference of night and day as warm light basked over Quies. However, she was not there for leisure and immediately tossed down a PBDS, a personal barrier deployment system, or a barrier stick as most people preferred to call it. There were different settings and outputs, ranging from projecting a barrier the shape of a riot shield, to creating a dome shaped barrier large enough to cover the entire perimeter of the rift at its highest output. When used at this setting, the barrier would last no more than a couple of minutes, but by lowering the output by a significant amount it could be extended to just about an hour. However, at this output, the barrier would do little more than to apply a repelling force that would keep out insects and gently deter small rodents. Still, that was better than nothing.

With a key access tag that allowed her to pass through the barrier unhampered, Quies took off and flew straight up into the sky until she broke through the canopy and saw the jungle from a bird's eye view.

A blanket of green so lush it bordered on black, with trees of coiled vines, pools of simmering sludge, bright purple flowers, and air that was somehow both acrid and pleasant to the nose at the same time.

She tasted her lips then and a thin smile crept across her gloomy face. The air of home tasted differently after all. However, she was not referring to the actual taste of the air itself, but rather to the aether rich atmosphere here on Arca Archa. To humans, it was the same difference between breathing the thin air atop the peak of Mt Everest and the oxygen rich air at sea level.

As she filled her lungs with this air, she felt reborned. Then, looking left and right as she hung in the air, she noted all the particularities of the area. She noticed a vine that had gotten caught by her shoulder when she had broken through the canopy. As she threw it away, she noticed that it left a thin residue on her fingers, and rubbing them together, it was causing her skin to stick. She licked her fingers without hesitation.

"Poison."

It left a tingling sensation on her tongue, a sign of toxins. Yet, it was not a cause for concern for her, as beyond a mere tingle, she needed not worry about any true lasting effects due to the artefact in her possession. She added this to her report, then she took off once more and kept her eyes keen for anything else that could pose a potential risk. There was still a fair bit of time before the others arrived, so she wanted to scout as much as she could.

As she flew, soon, there was something that completely took her attention.

"Hm… That is…" She murmured as she drew closer.

And before long, she found herself subconsciously squeezing tight the ring shaped artefact on her finger as she dove head first into a tsunami of white fog.

…

Around sixty members of SCT Noctua and SCT Accipiter total arrived by ADVs. With the airport already aware of their coming, they were able to make it straight to the runway without any delays. When they got off the vehicle, the head of their department was already waiting for them in front of the rift.

Quies was greeted by the Scouts and she gave a quick look at everyone present. Then, she commanded them.

"Change of plans. As of this moment, this rift event has been reclassified as red-E with an immediate sealing designation. I want a quarantine zone to be set up now. Move quickly, as if your life depends on it, but if you start to feel 'white' fill your senses, retreat immediately. I am not joking. This is something that will save your life."

""Yes ma'am!""

"I will return later."

The group acknowledged her orders and quickly hauled ass. From power generators, electric-to-aether converters, and FBDSs, in a matter of moments from now, they would have moved over several tonnes of equipment.

Watching this unfold, Quies gnawed at her thumb. What she had seen on the other side had unnerved her greatly.

"This isn't enough," she mumbled to herself before she took off into the air towards the guild's headquarters. "We need more. This isn't nearly enough to keep it out. Five layers— no, not even ten layers of barriers will be caution enough. Damn. I have to talk with the director."

…

"Hello?" Quies asked through the comms. She had a direct line connected with Mathas, the chief of organization.

"Ms. Quies! I just received the reclassification report you've sent. The SCTs should have arrived by now. Is there something you need? I see that you're flying back right now."

"Please connect me to the director. This is urgent."

"Ah yes, just a moment."

The ensuing seconds felt like minutes and hours to Quies as the silence dragged on, although in reality the line went quiet for no longer than a minute before Oryza's voice filled the call.

"This is Oryza speaking. I have your report pulled up on my screen right now." Oryza spoke before taking a moment to read through it, as only natural. But Quies was already growing impatient. Her thumb had already started bleeding from the gnawing she had been doing since earlier. "It's a poisonous jungle. That's troublesome to deal with. With the possible insect contamination, I don't want there to be another epidemic outbreak."

"The jungle is a problem, yes, but that's not the main issue at hand."

"What do you mean?"

"We were unlucky. During my reconnaissance, I encountered the White Night."

"The White Night?" The director's surprised voice was clear for her to hear. "Are you absolutely certain that's what you saw?"

"Director. When have I ever lied to you before?" Quies's tone was dead serious. "It was the White Night, which is why I need every FBDS we have available to set up as many layers of barriers feasible to seal this rift right now. If this Great Calamity is unleashed through the rift, then you can consider Singapore to be following in the footsteps of Russia and begin evacuating the entire city now."

"…Ah, forgive me. I have a clear understanding of the situation now. I will do what I can, but you may have to convince Sanders yourself. You know the kind of person he is."

"I also have a sample of the White Night with me right now. I plan on dropping it off at the lab for preservation before heading back. If he doesn't agree, I will talk with him in person then."

"Understood."

…

Ending the call, Oryza's gaze lingered onto the central display of the command center. Three bright lights shone in Singapore: Red, Orange, and Yellow. From bad to worse, since the rift events began, every single piece of news that had been brought to him had been more terrible than the last. Now, he could only look on with dread at the last remaining rift event which SCT Accipiter had yet to report from— the orange-nil in the residential area of District 19.

As things stood, the rift outbreak with the manticore was a high priority, but the sealing of the White Night rift took even higher priority. But even though he knew that he had to do something about it, and probably had to even funnel all their remaining resources, he could not comply with Quies's request completely, at least not immediately.

There were still two rift events aside from that, and although a manticore had already come out of one of them, who was to say there might not be something even worse to follow? Hell, they were unlucky enough to encounter one of the great calamities of Arca Archa already, so why not another? Around these parts, Murphy's laws were an adage that had gained notoriety to the point where people believed in it religiously. It was like that idiom where one could not count their chickens before they hatched, so at the barest minimum, he could not ignore the possibility that something unexpected might happen until a rift event was properly contained and watched over by an SGT.

Yet, time continued to tick even as he dealt with his inner conflicts. As the top of the command chain, he needed to make the proper judgment calls with the proper response times.

"Hey Mathas, I need you to… what's the matter?"

"Uh, Sir…" Mathas looked unsure of how he should put this into words. "SCT Accipiter has just reported back some concerning information. They don't know whether it's a blessing or a curse, but it seems that the orange-nil rift event has been sealed from the inside. They can't approach it at all…"

…

…