3 days later, John was waiting at the entrance of the CoD base for Luke.
"Yes, what is that NPC doing? Is there going to be an event?" Asked a player in confusion and excitement.
"Wait! I have seen him before! Let me check the Database." Another player said.
The Database, much like its name, is a thread on the forums, where information is stored. This Database contains all information that players come across and are willing to share with the rest of the players. Most players would not be able to keep information to themselves, since that was not how players worked. The mentality of players was to show-off and boast about something as soon as they got something that others did not have, and the Database was the perfect place to do so since many players were constantly scrolling through this information. Naturally, it is all player made, and so there is plenty of useless information or even fake information.
For this reason, the one who actually made the threat, naturally had administrative rights over the thread itself. He added almost 80 other players as moderators to help him filter non-sense. As for fake information, he did not have to do much. When someone would put fake information like "Hey, I found a gold mine here!" A few players would naturally be attracted. And upon reached the location and finding nothing, they would naturally vent their anger on the forums, allowing the moderators to take down the fake post. [1]
"Yes! I found it! This is a new recruit to the base, and he clearly has a protagonist build. Since his level is still pathetically low at level 3, most players were able to fully see through him."
"Ah! I see it! But what sh*t is this? What kind of disgusting talents are [Advanced Growth Multiplier], [Undefeatable luck]?"
"Hey, if we kill it, is there a chance to steal his talents?"
"Nonsense! There is no such thing!"
In this one year, most of the 8000 players within CoD had already joined the war with Islesat and Roland, continuously dying and reviving to enter the battlefield once more. Naturally, Luke had been able to set up respawn points much closer to the battlefield by now, so that players could join in the fun faster.
Naturally, after a whole year, the players were all at or above level 5, with many of them reaching above level 10 as well! Some players like the 5 core players of CoD, had even reached the level of 18!
Since the battlefield had grown more chaotic, with higher level people appearing, the average level for each soldier had now become level 10, while the captains were at level 15, the perfect level for players to hunt.
Naturally, the battlefield had also changed from an al out battle on an open ground to more strategic locations with smaller armies and quicker paced battles.
The reason was simple, no matter how many hidden trumps the three superpower nations had, they simply could not have as many higher leveled people as normal soldiers. It was simply inconceivable, since if any nation had so many higher leveled soldiers, they would have easily invaded all other nations by now.
The enormous clashes with thousands of normal people were still going on at the borders, however, they were no longer the main focus of the entire war. Instead, all the attention of the upper echelons had gone towards the smaller battles between stronger people.
This was where Luke's CoD members came into the limelight. The sheer number of Level 5 and above soldiers that the CoD base was sending was truly stunning.
Naturally, everyone could tell that something was up here, and all three of the powerhouses got into motion with figuring out what the reason was.
While they were doing that, Luke appeared from the main centre building of the CoD base, The Sage Tower, and casually walked towards John.
"Hey kid. Come on, we are leaving." He said loudly while ruffling John's rather oddly reddish-brown hair.
"Yes Master."
"Kid, call me Sage! Not Master. Even though you are my disciple, you will still call be Sage."
"Alright Sage. But… You don't need to call me kid. I know that you are the same age as me."
"You! Age is not what matters! I am older than you. Nothing else matters!" Naturally, Luke was speaking in terms of his true body, but John took it as Luke talking about his current body being a little older to himself, and so he couldn't help but respond.
"Only by a month or so."
"John! You better stop or I will throw you out right now and disown you as my disciple!"
"Ah! Sorry, Sorry!"
"Hmph!"
With that, Luke and John began their journey to find Drake, while the players were left is commotion.
"Hey, explosive news! We got the Sage's age!"
"Haha! That John fellow is 19, so the Sage should also be 19"
"Haha! Where is VidBro? Haha, I, your father, will show you what reporting truly means!"
Instantly, the forums were abuzz with talk about the Sage being only 19 years old.
[1] Chronicles…. If you get what I mean.