The air shimmered around us, a dazzling white haze before solidifying into our new surroundings. I took a deep breath and looked around. Our outpost now sat atop a steep hill covered in lush green grass. The base of the hill was the edge of a pine forest. The land sloped away toward a narrow lake, still and reflecting the bright blue sky above. In the other direction, the forest sloped up and away from us along the flanks of a steep mountain valley. The peaks soared above us at least four thousand feet, jagged granite crags topped with snow. The word "Alpine" stuck in my head. My guess was this landscape came from Central Europe somewhere or it was completely made up by the AI.

[Welcome to the Corrupted Earth!] the system boomed from all around us.

[The world is hollow. It seethes with unrest and evil. You and your allied heroes will assault multiple battlefronts to cleanse the foul monsters who rule this world, delving deeper and deeper to unlock ancient secrets, competing for a chance to unseat the dark ruler of this world. You will not be alone in your attempts. Team ruleset will be revealed to those who gain entry to Castle Byalgrad.

Here in the Kingdom of Illyria, you are one of ten teams that will be competing to defeat the defenders of Castle Byalgrad. The halls of the castle are filled with multiple challenges. You will have to work to defeat each of those to reach the lowest level. From there, your next step will be revealed.

The rule set from phase two has been modified in the following ways.

First, you will find crafting materials available here of a higher quality than anything in the previous levels. These can be harvested by any of your affiliated miners. However, unlike the previous level, harvesting miners can be attacked by other miners. There is no distinction here between combat and non-combat miner. That means you can swap members at will in and out of your combat team.

As before, deaths are temporary and miners will revive inside your outpost. Outposts are not attackable at this point in the phase.]

I made a note of that. It sounded like the rules could be changed at any time. [Respawns are instantaneous; however, each respawn will cost Soul Coins from your backer’s bid. The more deaths, the higher the cost. Please consult with your backers to make sure you have sufficient funds available for respawn.

You have one week before the doors of the castle will open. You may use that time to gather information, collect resources, or improve your own creep spawning abilities. But be careful: the valley had inhabitants before you, and they won’t all be happy to see newcomers.

Good luck!]

"That really isn't a whole lot to go on," Grandpa observed as the system voice faded away. "We need information, pronto. We should send out a bunch of our crafters to scout."

“Team ruleset worried me,” Juana said. “That sounds like we might need allies, and we’re a little short on those.”

Just then, my notifications beeped. I checked. “Holy shit! I just gained three levels, I’ve got a bunch of choices to make!”

“Me, too!” Sage exclaimed, jumping up and down with excitement. “We got XP for Phase Two after all! I need to go look at what I get, I’m going to finally have more than twenty charisma and I’ll be able to Tame two targets at once!”

“Hold your horses,” Grandpa said. “Let’s get things settled here, then we’ll figure out our level ups.”

“Right,” Sage said. “Back to business. Lives are a fungible resource now. We don't know what these challenges are going to be, but I'm guessing it might take us more than one try to beat them. The more respawns we have available, the more times we can try."

"Good point," I said, while wondering where she’d picked up words like fungible. Probably from hanging around Kirin and Arjun. "But at the same time, we aren't going to want to give up whatever treasures are available here. They might come in real handy later on. And if we can ambush other teams and use up their lives, that works out for us, right?”

“And ruin any chance they might want to ally with us?" Juana asked. “By the way, I’m Level Three now, without ever having to set foot outside our outpost in Phase Two.” She winked at us. She’d never even entered a Phase One portal, since her family had set up a restaurant to pay their contracts off. Two levels just for her work on our outpost was impressive.

I thought about the first part of what she’d said. “If anybody wants to make a non-aggression pact, that's fine by me. We don’t have enough to go on yet to think about teaming up, we’ll need to wait until those rules are unveiled.”

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"I'll look into it," Juana said. "I'm sending information on our setting back to Arjun. His info said there were going to be 857 teams going into Phase Three. If we're up against 9 others, we can expect there's 86 or so of these scenarios set up. It means we're not likely to run into anyone we know, but if we got really unlucky and are stuck in a world with a bunch of Proxima patsies, we'll want to know."

We got a ping from Veda. I've just been informed there's a sponsors and team heads party here on the hub in 8 hours. I'm going to need three of you up here.

I think we've all got better things to do, I said, and my dress uniform got left back on earth, so I'm going to have to turn it down.

It's not optional, she said. System enforced.

What'll they do if I say no?

Do you really want to find out?

I hesitated. My instinct was to send Juana and Grandpa and maybe Dwight. I wasn't good at that sort of formal soiree.

Grandpa was looking at me and shaking his head. "I think you should go, Shad," he said quietly. "I have a feeling this'll be like an embassy ball. Chiefs to mingle and meet the opposition, get their number."

"It's a waste of time," I said. "Hours to get up there, hours there, hours to get back down. When I could be helping us figure out what's going on here."

"Still," Grandpa said, unruffled, "I think we both need to go." He looked around at our crew of misfits, traveling from one to the next. "Now, who'll be good at an event like this? Someone who can keep a level head, observe what's going on, mingle. Maybe even do a little spying." He glanced at Sage, shook his head. Kept looking, clearly wrote off all of the Mongeese.

Veda, does it have to be one of our combat team or can it be anyone?

You can bring anyone. Though they will judge us by who you bring.

They?

It's complicated. Just make sure it's someone who can handle themselves when cornered.

Grandpa nodded. "Got it. Juana?" She looked up from where she'd been, leaning over the strategy table, looking at our surroundings.

"Yes?"

"How do you feel about being Shad's date to a party tonight?"

I opened my mouth to protest as Juana's cheeks flushed a little. "What's this all about?"

"Some VIP event that Veda just sprung on us," I said. "We need a third for our delegation."

"Oh." She glanced away, then back. "Up on the Hub?"

"Yeah, I know. It's a pain."

Juana was shaking her head. "No, no, it's fine. Maybe we can find out more about these team rules, and make a few allies. And we've got a week, so I guess it's all right. But I haven't got anything to wear."

Grandpa sent Veda a message. All right, we're on our way up, but you'd better take care of seeing that we look presentable.

Not to worry, Veda said as we made our way toward the exit. I'm already on it.

I settled into my seat on the space elevator pod. I’d gotten used to the astonishing trip from Ganymede up to the Hub, but the moment we popped out of the shell protecting Threshold and saw Jupiter hanging there never failed to take my breath away.

“It’s a hell of a commute,” Grandpa said, staring out at the gas giant.

“Almost makes all this worth it,” Juana said.

I didn’t respond. The truth was, ever since we started Phase Two and the threat of death was taken away, I’d been enjoying myself. Phase Two had been one challenge after another, and I’d risen to them all. The adrenaline rush, the feel of pulling victory from the claws of defeat — it was addictive.

I pulled up my stats screen. “Guess I’ll see what I get for leveling up.” Three levels at once took me from 5 to 8, all the XP from Phase Two dumped on me at once. That meant I had nine points to assign. I tossed two into stamina, to bring my health pool up to 170. Then a couple into charisma and dexterity, both of which were key for my favorite skills, and then I added three points to strength to bring that up to 8. Now that I had my Home on the Range ability, letting me teleport back to base holding anything I could lift, strength mattered a lot more than it had before.

“Huh,” I said, after assigning the points, as a message popped up. [Congratulations! Your achievements from Phase Two have been noted and rewarded.

Notable achievements (received by fewer than 5% of miners)

Punching Up: Take out an outpost more than one level stronger than your own

Sails the Seven Seas: Steal more than 100,000 soul coins’ worth of equipment from another team

Suicide Watch: Die more than ten times in a single twenty-four hour period

Reward for these achievements will be delivered in 72 hours.]

“Are you getting a special award?” I asked Grandpa.

“Yup. Let’s check around.” He sent a message to our combat team. Most of them reported getting the Punching Up achievement, but nobody admitted to “Suicide Watch”. I kept that one to myself.

Sage was ecstatic. She’d gotten a special achievement of her own. “Up and Coming” was awarded to “the youngest (age adjusted by species maturation times) miner to have participated in a team special event”. I can’t wait to see what I get, she told me over chat.

How’d you spend your level up points?

Got Charisma to 21. Now I can Tame two targets! I don’t even need a second physical lasso, it’s going to be great.

Did you up your stamina?

That’s soooo boring.

Not dying is important.

I know, I know. I’m sticking my tongue out at you right now, even if you can’t see it. Yes, I put two points in stamina. Then everything I had left in dexterity.

Good. I watched the sky, looking for the particular shining point of light that was the Hub. We were well above the surface of the moon now, sliding through space.

Sage sent me another note. I’m going hunting with the farmers. Don’t insult anyone important, ok?

Do I ever?

That and dying stupidly are your two signature moves, Shad. I’m not there to keep you out of trouble and Juana’s too nice but stick with her anyway, ok? Besides she likes you and it would be nice if I had someone else helping take care of you, so don’t mess this up.

Wait, what?

I’m busy now, don’t talk to me. Talk to Juana, she’s the one there with you.