The sun was beating down on the medium-sized desert town of Ramel, per usual. Though, anybody born and raised around here had already gotten used to that. In a place where the light of day never waned, there were no uniform hours of sleep for the general populace; everybody followed their own schedule, and so the town was always bustling with activity.

One particular native was just about ready to wake up. Some people would find it foolhardy to rest with a blanket on in the middle of such blistering hot weather, but for Brimbus, it just felt right having a soft sheet covering him as he dreamed.

A faint scent of spiced meats came wafting in through the door of the longhouse, enough for him to awaken his senses and face the world. Without bothering to make his bed, he hopped off his bunk onto the stony beige floor and made his way quietly yet swiftly past the other slumbering denizens.

Walking outside, he was greeted by the ever present sun overhead and the two rows of longhouses forming a neighborhood of its own. They weren't as nice as the comfortable wooden lodgings that retired folk or tourists reside in, but a complacent life like that wasn't the life for one such as Brimbus. Ask anyone who dwelt here, they'll give the same response!

He bade good morning to familiar faces on the way to the mess house, kicked a stray ball heading his way back to its owner, and performed the recently adopted tradition of hurdling over Frank as he passed by. Whether or not the sandworm cared for such playful disposition did not show on his non-existent face, though his hardened exterior could have made him insensitive to it.

About half a kilometer later, Brimbus made it to the cafeteria. Of course, he still needed to endure the usual torture of waiting in line behind a myriad number of hungry guests like him, all while a collection of steamed vegetables, freshly baked bread, and slow-roasted meat made their aroma known for all within the vicinity.

After what felt like ages but was really only around fifteen minutes, Brimbus finally had his tray filled to the brim with mouthwatering food. Many people had to sit outside due to the limited number of seating arrangements available, but it was an unspoken custom to do so when one could, so as to leave room for those who suffered from prolonged exposure in the sunlight. He didn't mind it at all, so he took to finding a nice spot on the sandy grounds and dug into his breakfast.

It was pretty much just meat stew, which the chefs knew he preferred. He slurped it all down shamelessly with gusto, and after returning the tray, moved toward his next destination.

If anyone asked about which was the busier locale, the training grounds or the mess hall, they would get mixed answers. It was universally agreed upon, however, that the training grounds were far more chaotic. Boulders of varying sizes were scattered in one area, an obstacle course testing a multitude of acrobatics was located in another. There were other niche areas, but the most populated one was a classic, run-of-the-mill, wide open space. Brimbus scurried over there, weaving in between his fellow athletes looking for any sign of his coach and friends. Not too difficult, when taking into account the considerable bulk one of them had.

"YEAAARGHHHH, BRIMMY! You ready to take on the mountain?!" Fe'Krun was a species of desert tortoise that had two tusks growing out from his jaw. The adults grew to be 3 m tall and weigh over ten tonnes! Krun was still fairly young, but certainly above average for his age at 1.8 m and just over two tonnes.

"Hope you ate, at least," said a mildly impatient, though still caring Liebru. As an antelope species, she had their signature ridged horns jutting out from her skull, though they still had a ways to go before reaching full adult size.

"Yes, and YEAAAAAHHHH!!" answering the two, Brimbus let loose the excitement that had been building up for this moment.

"WOOOOOOOO!!" Krun was the same, and while outwardly Liebru was sighing, she shared a similar sentiment with them.

"You boys are lookin' pretty excited!" Arriving fashionably on time was the coach they'd known for most of their lives. She patted her "favorite Brimmy" on the head as she landed, like always.

Although this time, something was a bit different about her, prompting a reaction from Krun. "Whoa, what's with the new look, coach?"

"You like? Just got it done in the city!" Coach Kamla was a subspecies of sphinx moths, with a wingspan measuring 3 m. Normally, she would have an overall light brown coloration with white lined patterns, while her fuzzy thorax remained a solid brown color. Now, the thorax was a neon pink and really made her stick out like a sore thumb on the training grounds.

"Could you take us there some time, miss Kamla?" said Liebru, eliciting nods of agreement from her two friends. From the time since they were born, many of the children raised in Ramel would gaze at the wondrous sight of wildly expansive forests, blocky metal buildings, imposing snowy mountains, and many others in between. Combined with the imports received from these far off locations, like the colloquially named 'Voice Box', or 'V-Box' that most people who lacked complex vocal chords used, these helped to ignite the wanderlust within them.

Though, as expected, they were met with a shake of the head, with Kamla telling them to pass the first trial of the mountain before she would bring them along. Indeed, it was something akin to a rite of passage that granted access to other parts of the world which they so desperately wanted to explore. They already had a taste from visiting the city of Oasis a couple of years back, but it was still within the desert. As such, it only served to motivate them to train even harder so that they could complete the test post-haste and experience an atmosphere that wasn't hot, arid, and sandy for once.

After warming up a bit with basic exercises, they walked alongside their coach to the base of the mountain to attempt the trial. The strength trial was built off to the side, so the first member of their group set off on his own.

"Time to show these gates who's boss, YEAAARGHHHH!!" said Krun as he stomped away enthusiastically while Liebru, Brimbus, and Kamla sent him off.

"Good luck."

"Go get'em!"

"Attaboy, Krun!"

Once that was over, the other two participants stepped forth to take their own trials. Here was where their coach took her leave.

"Now, I don't wanna come back and see any of you failed the test, y'hear?"

"Got it."

"Don't worry miss Kay, we'll make it to Gebalt before you know it!"

Gebalt. Entering this stone city marked one's entry into the Advanced Mortal stage with the introduction of qi. Acquiring such a power meant more than just strength and the ability to journey across the world. It spelled versatility by using it like faux appendages or enabling flight, not to mention inconveniences like fatigue and hygiene would have to be dealt with far less often on a daily basis.

Strolling up the high road were two of the original four that came here. Despite this being the shared entrance to the endurance and agility trials, they were the only ones here. Food and supplies were delivered to Gebalt on a side road paved elsewhere on the mountain, so this place was fairly desolate.

The rising heat and upcoming bend in the road signified that it was time for them to split up. Once again, Brimbus watched as another one of his friends went off into the distance after wishing each other the best. He knew that he would see them again soon, but he was beginning to feel rather sentimental knowing he and his closest friends may have to separate like this often in the future.

Shaking his head away from these distractions, he skittered over to the stalagmites sticking out from the magma ahead. This was the agility challenge: moats of magma filled with stone spikes intertwined with the main road. Done right, and participants could complete the course the fastest compared to the others. And yet, with failure located just beneath one's feet at nearly every step of the way, it was no wonder that some of the longest records belonged to the agility trial. Rest was permitted on the road, though such an option was rarely taken advantage of when the constant heat made every second precious here.

Digging his feet into the ground, he pushed himself off the ledge and onto the first foothold. Stray dust gathering on it was kicked up from the landing, and each subsequent one as he kept leaping onward. He blazed past the first half of the trial easily, since the spikes were largest and most plentiful in the beginning. More effort and thought was starting to be required, however; his progress steadily slowed to a crawl as he neared the end, each jump needing to be weighed for feasibility or for continuity, since wrong decisions would lead to dead ends.

Almost 3 km had been traversed already, and with a final stretch of 100 m left to go, Brimbus should have been feeling pumped. However, he was anything but. Nearly an hour had been spent already navigating the third kilometer, where temperatures were so hot that heat waves were distorting the air. By the time he reached his current point, Brimbus' head was starting to spin.

"Hey Brimmy, looks like I'll be going on ahead!" A voice coming from the road behind him signaled that he was unlikely to be the first of his friends to reach Gebalt. However, it did bring him to his senses enough to realize he really needed to get a move on.

Tentatively, he made his way through the stalagmites one by one. At this point, they were slim enough to wrap an arm all the way around, and granted an annoyingly small amount of leverage. Taller ones were the obviously favorable choice at this stage, as they had more leeway when it came to jumping distance.

He was left in an awkward position in the middle of the moat of magma, having to choose between the two nearest spikes. One was quite short, standing at a height of 1 m. This was a guaranteed jump compared to the other choice, however, which required him to cross a 6 m gap! The one Brimbus was hanging on to was 4 m tall, and without a sizable foothold, such a feat was unlikely.

But his judgement was becoming clouded from remaining in the sweltering heat for so long. The distortions in the air caused the two choices to appear closer than they seemed, and so Brimbus took the long jump.

He let loose his grip on the stalagmite, shifting his position to curl up his legs and offer them the optimal angle to launch himself off of it. And yet, one of his feet failed to find purchase in the process, giving him a bit of airtime before plummeting down into the fiery depths.

There were a lot of thoughts passing through Brimbus' mind as he fell. A couple tried to reassure himself that he would be rescued by his seniors. The rest, however, were an overwhelming majority of "I'M GONNA DIE", "STUPID, STUPID, STUPID", "WHAT WAS I THINKING", and various other assorted thoughts of despair and regret.

As his face came close enough to start singeing, and his agitation at being unable to close his eyes to the oncoming death rose to a peak, his salvation made itself known. Instead of delving into slow, agonizing, burning pain, Brimbus instead suffered from minor blunt force trauma. He had face planted onto solid rock, and the surrounding temperature had dropped to Ramel's level. A pathway through the magma was created for him leading back down into Ramel, but he needed to lie down for a bit after that experience.

Brimbus' eight legs sprawled out on the stony platform while he gazed up at the sky in a dreamlike stare. There were two humans soaring in the air, bolting straight past the agility trial that he struggled so hard to overcome, but failed to do so. One of them had short, spiky black hair, with black and white robes that fluttered in the wind. The other had short brown hair, brown vest, and simple off-white shirt and trousers.

"Someday, I'll be just like them," his V-Box sighed as he clicked his mandibles.

"...Miss Kay's so gonna chew me out for this."