7: Chapter 7 Brother, can I borrow your big dog?

The title was incredibly arrogant and directly tagged the video of the platform's top-tier whale, PD. Once released, it was like a depth charge, instantly causing a massive stir within Youxing Network.

Countless players who had been following the trend on the forums, mocking FGO as a "pay-to-win reskinned tower defense," along with viewers who had just watched PD's live stream where he was solo-killed by a mob, clicked on the video with hearts full of doubt and a desire to watch the drama unfold.

Three minutes later, the entire video's comment section was completely overrun.

"Holy crap?! You can actually play the game like this?"

"Vanguards kill enemies to recover cost, Defenders drop down to tank damage, Healers on high ground to heal... This is a freaking perfect tactical loop!"

"So one-star and two-star cards aren't fodder; they're special ops units used for the early-game heavy lifting? This mechanic is genius!"

"The producer is a god! This is a real strategy game. If you spend money without using your brain, you deserve to be hacked to death by mobs!"

Meanwhile, in PD's room on the Shark Streaming Platform...

Just as PD's mental state was about to collapse under the torture of these hardcore mana mechanics, the style of the scrolling comments suddenly shifted:

"President P, stop feeding! Go watch Great God White Night's tutorial video! You've been called out and publicly executed!"

"Stop thinking about using five-stars; five-stars are for the late game! Go train your low-star cards!"

"Go copy the homework! Great God White Night has already spoon-fed you the solution!"

"White Night? Tutorial video? Copy homework?"

PD froze for a moment. Following the link sent by his viewers, he opened the video in his browser.

In the video, White Night's smooth "low-star opening defense line" was like a resounding slap across PD's chubby face.

He watched the video where a Lancer Cu Chulainn, costing only 10 points, wove through a swarm of monsters with a crimson spear, killing his way in and out seven times. Then he looked at the Gilgamesh in his own hand, stuck at a cost of 32 points.

PD's face turned pale and then flushed; he remained silent for a full half-minute.

Finally, he slumped into his chair like a deflated balloon, covering his face in agony.

"Oh, for heaven's sake..."

"I shouldn't have questioned the strategic depth of this game. This damn developer is literally teaching me how to play."

With the tycoon admitting defeat, the atmosphere in the stream reached a climax instantly:

"Hahaha! This is the first game to ever make President P admit he was wrong, isn't it?"

"Stop talking nonsense and go 'copy the homework' with that lineup!"

"Exactly, didn't you pull the entire collection? Hurry up and dig out your 3-star Cu Chulainn and 2-star Georgios!"

"Right! Copy the homework! Once you know the mechanics, clearing this stupid stage will be a piece of cake!"

PD rallied his spirits and immediately switched back to the game, opening his Servant Archive.

Because he had dropped a hundred thousand yuan on pulls, his Servant collection was dazzling. Forget 3-star Cu Chulainn; he had a mountain of low-star cards with max Noble Phantasms (max potential).

Imitating the video, he formed a team with Cu Chulainn, Georgios, and Andersen, then marched back into the Burning Fuyuki City with his head held high.

[Battle Start!]

"Cu Chulainn, get out there! Kill enemies and generate cost!"

PD confidently placed Cu Chulainn in front of the blue gate.

A level 1 Dragon Tooth Soldier wobbled toward him.

Cu Chulainn thrust his spear, successfully killing it, while a [Cost +1] prompt appeared over his head.

"See! Isn't that easy!"

PD was overjoyed, his eyes glued to the mana bar in the bottom right, waiting to save up 26 cost to deploy his Saber.

However, a few seconds later, three Dragon Tooth Soldiers and a larger Elite Skeleton Soldier charged forward in a row!

A level 1 Cu Chulainn was extremely fragile. Facing a swarm, he needed a Healer in the back to heal or a Defender in the front to share the pressure.

But... to deploy his beloved King of Knights as quickly as possible, PD hoarded his mana greedily. He was unwilling to spend any to deploy the low-star Georgios or Andersen, forcing the level 1 Cu Chulainn to tank the onslaught of three monsters alone.

With a scream, Cu Chulainn, who had been on the field for barely ten seconds, saw his health bar vanish instantly, and he dissipated into flecks of light.

At that moment, PD's mana bar had only reached 24 points—still 2 points away from deploying Saber!

The defense line collapsed once again.

[Mission Failed]

"What happened?! In the video, this Lancer clearly took on the whole field alone to buy time!"

PD slammed the table in anger.

In the comments, several sharp-eyed veteran players burst out laughing:

"Solo the whole field? President P, look at the level of your Cu Chulainn, will you?!"

"Great God White Night used the newbie fodder the system gave him to level Cu Chulainn to 20, doubling his stats. That's why he could hold the early game alone! Yours is a pure level 1 naked card!"

"Vanguards are for recovering cost, not for being a God of War! You either use your brain and deploy Defenders and Healers to cooperate, or you go to the Enhancement Center to level up and steamroll! Why are you still trying to hoard for your 26-cost Saber?"

PD realized his mistake, his face turning red.

A clumsy player like him couldn't pull off micro-management like "precise deployment and limit-testing coordination." The only way out was to raise the levels of his low-star cards.

He hurriedly retreated to the lobby, ran to the Enhancement Center, and selected the level 1 Cu Chulainn.

Leveling up required a material called Blaze of Wisdom (Experience Fodder) and the game's basic currency, QP.

PD confidently pressed the "Max Enhance" button.

However, the system popped up a cold, jarring notification sound:

[Enhancement Failed! Your fodder reserves are insufficient! Your QP balance is insufficient!]

"Huh?" PD was dumbfounded. "I just created the account. Didn't the system give a ton of newbie fodder and hundreds of thousands of QP? Where did it go?"

The viewers in the stream were also stunned. Then, someone sent a quiet comment:

"Um... President P, after you finished pulling just now, did you think five-stars were invincible and just... fed all the fodder and money the system gave you to that five-star Saber?"

Boom!

PD felt like he'd been struck by lightning. With trembling hands, he opened Saber's data panel.

Sure enough, that gorgeous five-star SSR card was now shining with a very bright "Lv. 40"!

To nurture this "God-tier unit" that he couldn't even deploy, he had completely drained his early-game savings!

"I'm..."

PD wanted to cry but had no tears.

"Hahahahaha! The comedy of the year has been born!"

"A hundred-thousand-yuan whale, under house arrest in Fuyuki City!"

"What do you call this? It's called 'class stratification' backfiring and being sanctioned by the poor! That's what you get for looking down on F2P cards!"

The audience in the stream was dying of laughter at PD's ridiculous blunder.

Just as PD was about to log off in despair, or even delete his account and restart, a comment with a golden VIP badge floated by:

"PD, are you blind? Didn't you see the last slot in the formation screen says Support?"

"Support?"

PD froze and quickly opened the formation screen.

Sure enough, in the last empty slot of the team, there was a handshake icon.

Clicking it revealed a list; players could borrow Servants put up by other friends!

PD's eyes lit up instantly, as if he had grasped a life-saving straw.

He immediately retreated to the main interface, clicked on his Master info, and displayed that long string of "Friend Code (UID)" directly on the stream's public screen.

The number one tycoon of the Youxing community, in front of tens of thousands of viewers, made the most humble plea of his gaming career:

"Brothers! Who has a max-level Cu Chulainn?! Or a max-level Georgios is fine too!"

"Please add my UID! Put Brother Cu or Brother Georgios on support so I can borrow them!"

"As long as you help me clear the first stage, I'll immediately gift a Super Rocket in their stream!"

At this moment, F2P players across the server went wild.

In previous games, it was always the F2P players pitifully begging to cling to a tycoon's leg, borrowing their god-tier gear for a bit of fun.

But in this game called FGO, the world lines had completely converged.

Countless F2P technical players holding high-investment low-star cards watched PD's humble plea for help, feeling an indescribable, massive sense of satisfaction.

There were no absolute trash cards, no brainless steamrolling, only the wisdom of understanding mechanics, and the ultimate joy of "copying homework" and "clinging to a carry."

FGO was officially a hit!