Extra's Path To Main Character-Chapter 27 - 26 - The Cost of Being There [1]

The contract briefing was efficient, professional, and gave Amaron exactly the information he needed to assess the operation’s risk level and strategic value. Livia’s team consisted of four people: Livia herself as team lead and primary combat specialist, a C-rank support named Jace who specialized in barrier techniques, a woman named Kess who handled mana detection and threat assessment, and Amaron in the surveyor position.

The target was a Grade 2 rift in the fourth district that had been flagged for clearance after preliminary surveys indicated minimal structural instability and moderate commercial value. Standard three-day operation. Map the rift, clear any resident threats, confirm extraction viability, file the report.

Amaron reviewed the preliminary survey data with the focused attention he gave to anything that might matter and found nothing unusual. The rift matched standard Grade 2 parameters. The threat assessment was conservative but reasonable. The commercial value projection was within expected ranges for crystal deposits in this type of formation.

It should have been routine.

He noted that assessment and filed it under the category that had been getting worryingly full lately: things that should be routine but might not be.

— ◆ —

They entered the rift on the morning of day eighty-five.

The entrance was a stable fracture point in an abandoned factory complex, properly monitored and documented. The interior matched the preliminary survey — worked stone passages, moderate mana density, clear evidence of recent formation. They moved through the first level without incident, Livia maintaining point position with the easy confidence of someone who had run this kind of operation many times, Jace covering the flanks with barrier techniques that were clean and efficient, Kess calling out mana readings at regular intervals.

Amaron walked near the rear, maintained survey equipment, and kept half his attention on the Memory Index searching for any reference to a fourth district rift that matched this profile.

He found nothing. Which meant either this rift was too minor to have appeared in the original timeline’s significant events, or it was one of the growing number of variables that existed only because the timeline had diverged.

He was beginning to suspect the latter.

— ◆ —

The first sign something was wrong came three hours in, when Kess’s mana detection equipment registered a spike that didn’t match the expected profile for a Grade 2 rift.

"Reading anomalous mana density in the eastern passage," she said, in the calm professional tone of someone reporting data without editorializing. "Significantly higher than ambient. Possibly a localized deposit. Possibly something else."

Livia stopped the formation. "Define ’significantly higher.’"

"Thirty percent above what the preliminary survey indicated. Could be a Grade 3 entity. Could be structural instability. I’d need to get closer to confirm."

Livia made a decision with the speed that came from experience. "We investigate but we don’t engage unless we’re certain we can handle it. Jace, barrier ready. Kess, keep monitoring. Volg, stay close and mark the route."

They moved toward the eastern passage in tighter formation. The mana density increased as they approached — Amaron could feel it even without detection equipment, the ambient pressure rising in a way that suggested something in this section of the rift was drawing energy at a rate that shouldn’t be possible for a Grade 2 formation.

They found the source two passages in.

It wasn’t a deposit. It was a rift core. Specifically: a developing rift core that shouldn’t exist in a Grade 2 rift because Grade 2 rifts didn’t form cores until they escalated to Grade 3, which this one hadn’t, except apparently it had.

— ◆ —

"That’s not supposed to be here," Kess said, which was possibly the most understated assessment of a dangerous situation Amaron had heard in either life.

Livia stared at the core with the expression of someone rapidly recalculating their risk assessment. "The preliminary survey didn’t mention a core."

"Because there wasn’t one when they ran the preliminary," Jace said. "This is new formation. Recent. Maybe the last forty-eight hours."

"Can we stabilize it?" Livia asked.

Kess examined her equipment. "Not at this stage. It’s past early intervention. If we try to stabilize, we risk triggering full manifestation. If we leave it, it’ll manifest on its own within twelve to twenty-four hours."

"And if it manifests?"

"The rift escalates to Grade 3. Possibly Grade 4 depending on how much energy it’s accumulated. The fourth district factory complex is three hundred meters from the entrance point. Civilian exposure zone includes approximately five thousand people."

Amaron listened to this exchange and ran his own calculations. A rift core manifesting in the fourth district without warning would trigger Guild emergency protocols, civilian evacuation, and a response time of at least four hours because that’s how long it took to mobilize the specialized teams required for Grade 3+ containment. In four hours, a lot of people would die.

In the original timeline, this had not happened. Which meant either it was a minor event that had been contained without his knowledge, or it was something that only existed now because of his interventions over the past eighty-five days.

Either way, the choice was the same as the Marrin Survey.

Let it happen, or stop it.

— ◆ —

"We need to collapse the passage," Amaron said.

Everyone turned to look at him. Livia’s expression suggested she was processing this suggestion against what she knew about his capabilities and arriving at a conclusion that required further information.

"Explain," she said.

"If we seal this section off from the main rift, the core will still manifest but it’ll be contained. The energy release will dissipate into the sealed chamber instead of propagating through the rift network. The main rift stays Grade 2. The fourth district stays safe. We file a report, the Guild sends a specialized team to handle the contained manifestation."

"That would require bringing down approximately twenty meters of passage with enough precision to create a complete seal without destabilizing the surrounding structure," Kess said. "That’s advanced structural manipulation. B-rank at minimum."

"I know," Amaron said.

Livia looked at him for a long moment. Then she said, "You did this in the Marrin Survey."

"Yes."

"And you’re actually B-rank, not C-rank."

"Close enough to matter for this purpose."

Another pause. Then Livia made a decision. "Do it. Jace, support with barriers in case the collapse propagates. Kess, monitor for secondary instability. I’ll cover the retreat route."

She said this with the same calm efficiency she’d used for the entire operation, as if discovering that one of her team members was significantly more capable than advertised was simply another variable to be incorporated into the plan.

Amaron stepped forward toward the passage junction that would serve as the collapse point.

— ◆ —