Gary had spent the past few months working very hard for little pay. He'd returned to his old habit of only waking for work, and nature's call.

Gary had managed to save up enough to buy himself mana stone. He asked his new boss, a jovial man with tanned skin whose name Gary never bothered remembering fully, where he could purchase one.

"Well, I'm sure you can find some available in the market, but the elder usually handles the sale of any mana stones made in the village." Said his boss.

It wasn't really right to call it a village any more. There were so many people now that it was more like a large town, or a small city.

Gary almost felt guilty about it, but he'd been breaking his back helping build them new homes so he felt it evened out. Suppose the ones who died running from the tunnelers don't need compensation.

Gary made his way to the newly built town hall. He wasn't sure if he could even meet with the creepy old elder. The man had to be extremely busy nowadays.

Gary walked in and stood at the back of the line that led to a booth labeled "mana stones."

It took an unreasonably long time for the line to move, and Gary added "waiting in line" to his list of reasons to become an all-powerful immortal.

"Hi, are you here to test your affinity or buy mana stones?" Asked the curly haired receptionist.

"Uh.. Both?" Replied Gary.

The receptionist quickly pulled out some papers, and handed them to him along with a pen.

"Great! Fill these out, and when you're ready walk into the door at the end of the hall." Stated the receptionist.

Gary found a seat and filled out the forms. He made his way to the door, and walked in.

Inside sat a tired looking man at a table with a bizarrely smooth orb.

Gary walked up and handed him the papers.

The man silently looked them over and placed them to the side.

"Place your hand on the orb." he said.

Gary reaches for the orb.

It begins to vibrate rapidly.

As his hand reaches the orb it explodes.

Both Gary and the man are launched to opposite sides of the room. A small crater can be seen where the table once was.

"Holy shit!" screams the man.

Two armed men burst in the room. They help Gary, and the man up.

"Sorry about that." says the man. "I didn't expect that one to be defective. Ben, can you get me another one. I'm going to have to file a report for this one."

Ben, the guard, walks off to get another orb.

"And you mister Gary will need to fill out those forms again after we get done here." states the man.

"Yea, yea sure" Gary exhales, having seen his short life flash before his eyes.