The board hummed softly as Liam laid it out on the living room carpet.
It looked simple enough—just a matte-black square etched with faint, silvery lines, almost invisible unless the light caught them just right. There were no fancy pieces set up, no built-in screens, just the board... and the headset.
Liam picked up the headset next — sleek, lightweight, with two thin cables meant to plug into the board's hidden ports.
The inside was lined with a strange material — almost like liquid metal — that shimmered faintly when touched. Upon lifting the headset, he also found a pair of matte-black gloves hidden within.
"So this is it," he thought, heart racing.
The future of gaming, sitting right in front of him — something that could have only been dreamed about just a decade ago.
He hooked the cables into place with a soft click.
The board pulsed once under his hands, creating an image like a faint ripple — like a stone dropped into a pond — then settled into a low, steady glow.
Liam slipped on the gloves, feeling the tiny tactile sensors hug his fingers snugly.
Then, almost reverently, he lowered the headset onto his head.
A loading bar appeared in front of his eyes, in a plain blue box that seemed to float in mid-air.
Initialization
Welcome, Initiate.
The words floated across his vision, crisp and bright against the darkness.
System Calibrating... Stand By.
The room around him faded away, replaced by a swirling vortex of light and color. Shapes danced at the edge of his vision — buildings, creatures, landscapes — forming and unforming like dreams in fast-forward.
Finally, the system settled.
In the center of his view stood a single mole-like figure, clutching a battered stone hammer.
Behind it, a tide of similar creatures surfaced, bursting up from hidden burrows like tiny, determined warriors.
Race: Mole-Men
Attributes: Earth Affinity | Tunneling Mastery | Structural Manipulation
Special Trait: Burrowed Resurgence
A menu appeared, offering a simple choice:
Begin Tutorial — Yes / No
Liam grinned.
"No backing out now," he muttered and selected Yes.
His vision returned — back to his room where the board stood — but now, what had once been a blank slate blossomed into a living landscape: rolling hills, rocky outcrops, dense patches of forest.
And in the center, tucked into the crook of a shallow valley, sat his Mole-Men settlement.
It wasn't much.
Just a few mushroom-like huts made from hardened clay, a crude wooden watchtower, and a cluster of smoking campfires. Mole-Men bustled about, carrying tools and tending to burrows.
Basic. Fragile, Liam thought.
But underneath... there was potential.
He could feel it — like a muscle waiting to be flexed.
He moved his hands experimentally. The gloves translated his gestures into precise commands.
A flick summoned menus to the side of his vision, away from the board.
A tap brought up different options, allowing him to deploy units.
A sweep caused his view to shift across the miniature world.
"Alright, time to figure out what these little guys can do," he said under his breath.
Liam swept through the different tabs and options available to him. He found only four options currently available, with multiple others blacked out.
The tabs were labeled: Deployments, Structures, Research, and Special.
He decided to check out Deployments first.
Selecting it with his finger brought up a new tab to the side, showing different blue figurines of the Mole-Men — though these had different tools and appearances.
The first option was labeled Deepdelvers.
They had shovels and pickaxes strapped to their backs and appeared smaller and more stout than the other options — though, considering the already small stature of the Mole-Men, these looked like their children.
They had a purchase cost underneath of 2 Genesis Tokens, which seemed to be the currency used in the game for purchasing units and other essentials.
The next option available was labeled Gravelbacks.
These Mole-Men seemed more filled out than the others and slightly taller. They were equipped with stone maces and small round wooden shields with stone cores in the middle.
These cost 5 Genesis Tokens, so following that logic, they should be superior to the Deepdelvers.
The final troop option available at the moment featured Mole-Men with no weapons or armor.
They looked like the basic Mole-Men he had seen when he first started the game — but they were holding a small leek in their hands.
They were named Claybinders and cost a grand total of 10 Genesis Tokens to summon.
That was it for the Deployments section so Liam flicked his finger to shift over to the Structures tab.
Immediately, a few rough holograms sprang up — simple, almost crude models of buildings made from clay, stone, and mushroom fibers. Only three structures were currently unlocked.
The first was a Burrow Den.
It was a squat, dome-like hut built partially underground, with mushroom caps sprouting from the roof.
Function: Increases unit population cap by 5.
Cost: 10 Genesis Tokens.
"Looks like I'll need a bunch of these if I want to get myself an actual army," Liam mused, tapping through the info panel.
The next structure was the Stoneforge.
It resembled a hollowed-out boulder with glowing veins of magma running through its cracks. A couple of Mole-Men holograms hammered away at stone tools outside of it.
Function: Unlocks advanced equipment upgrades for Gravelbacks and Deepdelvers.
Cost: 20 Genesis Tokens.
He whistled low, "Alright, so this is where I can upgrade the weapons and equipment for my mole-men, probably fix and repair them as well."
The last available structure was called the Tunnel Nexus.
It looked more like a sinkhole with timber supports braced around the edge, and several tunnels snaking away into the darkness below.
Function: Allows rapid troop movement between different points on the battlefield.
Cost: 15 Genesis Tokens.
Liam grinned.
Tunneling shortcuts... definitely seeing a theme here, not that I'm complaining. Getting resources to where they need to go quiickly will always be a priority.
Satisfied with Structures for now, he swiped over to the next tab: Research.
Unlike Deployments and Structures, this section only had two options open — and both looked like simple scrolls resting on a stone pedestal.
The first was labeled "Resilient Foundations."
Effect: Fortified buildings gain increased durability by 15% against siege damage.
Cost: 30 Genesis Tokens.
The second was "Earthen Instincts."
Effect: Mole-Men units gain a passive +10% movement speed while underground.
Cost: 25 Genesis Tokens.
"Gonna need that if everyone's gonna be trying to nuke my tunnels, it'll also help out even more with troop movement," Liam thought with a small laugh.
Finally, he moved to the last tab: Special.
This one had only a single item unlocked — a glowing icon shaped like a clenched fist punching up through rock.
It was called "Burrow Break."
Ability: Instantly summon a group of temporary Mole-Men Gravelbacks at a chosen location. They last for 30 seconds before retreating back underground.
Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Cost: 40 Genesis Tokens.
Liam's eyes widened slightly.
"Summon sneak attackers right under someone's nose? This will come in handy if something unexpected happens, which I assume will happen a lot," he thought with a grin stretching across his face.
He closed the menus for a moment, letting the landscape reappear fully around him.
The little settlement was still bustling — Mole-Men carrying supplies, reinforcing huts, clearing tiny garden plots.
Simple.
Primitive.
But under Liam's control?
This place would become a fortress.
"Time to get to work," he said, flexing his gloved hands, ready to start building his kingdom from the dirt up.