Stevenson smiled, “In the interest of building a rapport with you both, I’m going to be candid.” He began, adjusting himself slightly in his seat, “My class is called Seer.” He reached up and tapped his temple, “It’s a class based around ocular skills and information gathering - I don’t have a single offensive skill. And before you ask, your identification skill didn’t work on me because of one of my starting skills, [Unseen Watcher]. It essentially makes it harder to gather information about me using skills.”

  “So you’re a surveillance guy. That makes sense.” Lucian looked across at him, squinting slightly.

  “Correct. Now, I’m told the two of you have been spending quite a large portion of your time since the shift in the jungle zone, correct?” Stevenson asked.

  “Yeah.” Lucian nodded.

  “The shift? Is that what people are calling it?” Annabelle chimed in.

  “Indeed it is. For people like Lucian, that term rings especially true.” Stevenson gestured upwards towards Lucian’s cat ears then down at his tail resting beside him before continuing, “I’m going to assume neither of you have been keeping up with the news?”

  Lucian and Annabelle nodded, “We haven’t really had time, between dungeons and monsters and traveling.” Lucian admitted.

  “For the best.” Stevenson sighed, “There is little good news to be had. This area wasn’t damaged much, all things considered.” He frowned, “But this, as I am sure you might have considered, is in fact happening everywhere - and I don’t just mean in the United States. It’s global.”

  “I assumed as much.” Lucian nodded.

  “Here, a large portion of the city was spontaneously replaced with a jungle. In the scheme of what has been happening, this is a small to moderate change. Mountains have sprouted up from nowhere, and entire islands have simply appeared throughout the oceans.”

  “Oh. That’s… I mean, there’s going to be international chaos.” Annabelle mumbled.

  “Correct again. It is nearly certain that various countries will begin to vie for new land and resources, and even more so once the world at large figures out how valuable dungeons are - which you two seem to have already discovered.” Stevenson chuckled dryly and nodded towards their duffle bags, “It will, as you said, be chaos.” He leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose, “But that isn’t my concern. I’ll leave that to the people whose jobs are to deal with international relations. My concern is the death toll.”

  Lucian cringed slightly, the memory of the officer he couldn’t save briefly resurfacing before he pushed it down.

  Stevenson continued, “For instance, there was very much part of the city where the jungle appeared. What happened to the people?” He raised the question.

  “I’ve tried not to think about it.” Lucian said, looking down slightly. Annabelle let out a sigh.

  Stevenson nodded, “Well, across the United States, we estimate more than a million people are missing or dead.”

  The temperature in the car seemed to drop slightly. Annabelle glanced over to Lucian. She was never extremely sensitive to that kind of thing, but she felt like he would be. Lucian looked at the floor of the car for a few seconds, blinking, before looking up and speaking, “That's… bad…” The words felt dry in his mouth. The true scale of what had happened was starting to worm its way into his mind despite his efforts not to think about it.

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  “But, unfortunately, that isn’t the worst part of it.” Stevenson grimaced, “The worst part of it is going to be what happens next. Supply chain disruptions are what I’m most concerned about. There’s an entirely new mountain range running vertically through the country roughly along the 95th parallel. An entire new mountain range, it’s unbelievable.” Stevenson sighed again, a deep, tired, sigh.

  Lucian didn’t reply. Annabelle reached over and put a hand on his back.

  “Sorry to bring the mood down.” Stevenson said after a moment, “Really, my apologies.”

  Lucian took a breath, “It’s alright. I’ll live.” He straightened himself out and smiled gently at Annabelle, shaking himself out of his slump, before returning his gaze to Stevenson, “Why are you telling us all this?”

  Stevenson smiled and raised his index finger, “First of all, this is all publicly available now. We’re treating the shift like a massive series of natural disasters.” He raised another finger, “Secondly, because I have an offer for the two of you.”

  Lucian shivered a little, “Alright, I can’t promise I’ll agree but I’ll hear you out.”

  Annabelle grimaced, “Me as well, I’ll at least listen.”

  “Lovely. Now! Currently, Congress is having an emergency session, discussing ways to handle the current crisis. Nothing brings people together like catastrophe. It hasn’t been finalized yet, though there is effectively no chance it isn’t within the next few days - there is a plan in place to begin a new agency with the express purpose of handling shift related matters. This will involve employing classed individuals, as people are calling them, as contractors, for the purposes of exploring altered terrain and handling monster threats.”

  “Are the congressmen reading webtoons?” Annabelle squinted at Stevenson.

  He laughed, “Ah, now that is funny. But not that I am aware of - though as a matter of my job I have been informed about the various stories that bear striking resemblance to our current predicament.” He shook his head, “Regardless, that’s the plan. However, it is highly likely that private organizations will emerge or adapt and take up similar roles - in a fashion similar to the concept of guilds that are so popular among the genre you’re referring to. In fact, congress is likely to push some things that make it easier for them, from a legal perspective.” His elf ears twitched slightly as he spoke, he was clearly somewhat amused by the parallels.

  Lucian took another breath, “Alright, that all makes sense. Forget it being a trope, it makes a certain amount of logical sense. I assume you want to recruit us?” Lucian tilted his head.

  “Exactly. From the information I’ve gathered, the two of you are quite competent. We have no idea what’s waiting for us in the many square miles of shifted terrain. Using the armed forces to explore it seems unwise for a variety of reasons - mainly weapon efficiency and group size affecting movement. It would be better to use smaller groups of classed individuals to explore, assess, and possibly handle threats where necessary.” Stevenson explained, “The exact contractual details can be worked out at a more convenient time and place, though right now you have a fair bit of bargaining power to work with, and will likely maintain that if you keep leveling up at your current rate.”

  Lucian and Annabelle glanced at one another. Lucian grinned, and Annabelle laughed a little. They looked back at Stevenson, “I think we would be interested in hearing further details, and maybe working with you, at least for now.”

  The group spent the remainder of the ride talking about overarching details and ideas, until the car eventually stopped outside Annabelle’s apartment.

  Stevenson looked out of the window at the building, “I can arrange a meeting in the next few days.” He checked his watch briefly, then reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a card, handing it to Annabelle, “We can hash out the finer details then, and maybe draft some contracts - temporary of course.” He smiled.

  Lucian and Annabelle disembarked, grabbed their bags filled with loot, and headed inside to take a well deserved break.

  Or at least that was the plan. Lucian’s phone still had power, he hadn’t used it while he was out, and it hadn’t been broken in any of the fights. As soon as he flopped down onto the couch, it began to ring. He was getting a call.

  He pulled his phone out and checked who it was, laughing slightly as he smiled wider.

  It was from Doctor Anderson.