Sudden Mission: Don't Bully the Young and Poor!

After bidding farewell to Father Logan, who had gone from arrogant to deferential, Tylen drove the slightly worn-down cart away from the shadow of Saint Rest Church.

The noon sun spilled onto Truth Avenue, bleaching the road white.

Tylen gave the reins a gentle shake. The old horse snorted and set off at a leisurely pace toward the outer ring of the northern city district.

His next stop was the "White Cloud Eye" rune shop there.

The cart's wheels rolled over the smooth stone road, producing a rhythmic rumbling sound.

Tylen sat on the shaft, appearing to take in the street scenes, but his mind was racing.

"Master Makley's task is definitely not just about delivering a letter or buying something simple."

He narrowed his eyes slightly, scanning the rows of shops lining both sides of the street.

This was the outer ring of Lion City, a gathering place for merchants and respectable folk.

Compared to the chaos and filth of the lower districts, this area brimmed with order and prosperity.

Shop assistants in clean linen robes beckoned customers at their doors. Patrol guards gleamed in polished armor. Even the air carried a blend of money and spices.

"Since it's a test, smooth sailing is out of the question."

Tylen calculated inwardly.

"Delivering the letter was the first step, testing loyalty and ability. Handling the corpse was the second, testing connections and methods. So next..."

Just as he was pondering, trouble struck without warning.

Whoa!

Tylen yanked the reins hard. The old horse let out a startled whinny, rearing its front hooves high and stopping dead in the middle of the road.

Moments earlier, two figures had darted out of a nearby alley without warning. If Tylen hadn't reacted quickly, the horse's hooves would have trampled them.

They were a pair of low-level apprentices, a boy and a girl who looked like siblings. Both were pale-faced and terrified, as if fleeing from someone.

Before Tylen could ask, a rapid clatter of hooves came from the left intersection, followed by an enraged roar:

"Magnus! Are you fucking blind?!"

Tylen frowned and turned to look.

A black cart of the same model came barreling toward him, three corpses piled haphazardly in the back. The body bags weren't even tied properly, revealing pale hands and feet.

Driving the cart was an extremely burly youth.

He had a golden buzz cut, each strand standing up like steel needles.

His long face featured a hooked nose and deep-set eyes, now wide with fury. His towering 1.85-meter frame strained the loose linen apprentice robe, giving him the oppressive presence of a brown bear.

Behind him followed four thuggish apprentices, all with crooked necks and hostile stares fixed on Tylen.

The moment Tylen saw these five, his heart sank.

"Haige."

That name was synonymous with bullying among the low-level apprentices at Cain Wizard Tower.

Haige hadn't gotten in through formal qualification selection.

Rumor had it his father was a core member of some big gang in Wave City, who had spent a fortune pulling strings to stuff him into the tower.

Though his magical sensitivity was mediocre, his physical fitness was excellent, and he'd grown up on the streets, brawling as second nature.

Word was, he'd already killed someone before entering the tower.

Once inside, Haige didn't focus on learning magic. Instead, he quickly formed a clique, gathered a bunch of low-level lackeys, and specialized in bullying and extortion.

The worst part was that he brought gang tactics into corpse retrieval tasks.

Other apprentices ran themselves ragged to meet their monthly corpse quotas.

But Haige and his crew would lie in wait on the main routes, directly snatching corpses from weaker apprentices.

Those robbed dared not speak up.

After all, in a place like the wizard tower, where the strong preyed on the weak, a low-level apprentice's life was worth less than grass.

The higher-ups only cared about results, not the process.

If you got robbed, it just meant you were incompetent.

Back when Tylen was a fresh rookie, Haige had cornered him once, snatching two hard-won corpses and nearly causing Tylen to fail his monthly quota and get expelled from the tower.

"What a small world."

Tylen sneered inwardly, but his face quickly shifted to a look of feigned panic.

If this were the past, he might have had to swallow his pride.

But now...

He silently calculated his remaining mana.

"Magic Thorn Art can be activated twice more. Not much, but enough to handle a few brutes who only know brute force."

The core issue now was: why were these people here?

Was it a simple coincidence? Or... was someone behind this?

Meanwhile, on the twenty-third floor of Cain Wizard Tower.

Makley was holding a steaming cup of black tea, watching the scene in the mercury mirror with great interest.

"Haige and his bunch of idiots move pretty fast."

Makley lightly blew on the tea foam, a playful smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

This was, of course, not his arrangement.

As a dignified formal wizard, he wouldn't stoop to such lowly methods to test an apprentice.

The real hand behind all this was another apprentice under his name—Jane.

That young lady, born with a noble title and spoiled since childhood.

Jane had always thought highly of herself, believing that even breathing the same air as a poor boy from the slums like Tylen in the same classroom was an insult to her noble bloodline.

Especially lately, when Tylen had received Makley's direct protection several times, which completely shattered the extremely jealous Jane's composure.

She didn't dare vent her anger at her mentor, so naturally, she turned her fury toward Tylen.

Thus, she instructed her simp, Tom, to find Haige, promised him some benefits, and had him come up with a reason to kill Tylen.

After all, plenty of apprentices died during missions every year—who would care about the life of a corpse-collecting apprentice?

All of this, naturally, did not escape Makley's eyes.

But he did not stop it.

"A true strongman must not only face the fangs of monsters but also the daggers of his own kind."

Makley took a sip of black tea, his gaze cold and expectant.

"Tylen, let me see, how will you handle this malice coming from behind?"

"Will you beg for mercy on your knees? Will you flee in panic? Or..."

On the street, the atmosphere was tense and explosive.

Haige jumped off the carriage, leading four underlings to surround Tylen in a fan formation.

Seeing this, the passersby quickly gave way but didn't leave far; instead, they stood at a distance, pointing and whispering, looking like they were ready for a show.

Tylen sat on the cart, hands tucked into his sleeves, a perfectly measured look of humility on his face:

"Brother Haige, long time no see."

"If I offended you just now, I'll apologize. We're all fellow disciples—no need to sour the relationship."

"Apologize?"

Haige sneered, his face full of fleshy cruelty and greed.

He didn't take Tylen seriously at all.

In his memory, this was just a spineless pushover who always nodded and bowed.

"Less talk! My carriage almost flipped just now dodging you! How are we settling this account?"

As he spoke, Haige swaggered over to Tylen's cart and lifted a corner of the body bag.

Seeing the two well-preserved corpses inside, his eyes lit up instantly.

"Oh, nice goods."

Haige turned around, pointing at Tylen's nose:

"Since you're admitting fault so sincerely, I'll be generous and give you a chance."

"These two corpses are mine now, consider it compensation for my mental distress."

With that, he waved his hand and barked at his underlings:

"What are you standing around for? Move the goods!"

The four underlings immediately cackled and closed in, reaching for the body bag on the cart.

"Stop!"

Tylen leaped off the cart, blocking them.

His voice suddenly rose, carrying a righteous fury:

"Haige! You've gone too far!"

"This is a public street! We're all apprentices of Cain Wizard Tower, representing the tower's face! Robbing a fellow disciple out in the open like this—aren't you afraid of making us a laughingstock to outsiders?!"

This shout was full of vigor, drawing even more onlookers.

Haige froze for a moment, then burst into hysterical laughter, clutching his stomach as if he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Ha ha ha ha! Face? You're talking to me about face?"

He abruptly stopped laughing, step by step closing in on Tylen, his massive frame casting a shadow that completely engulfed him.

"A piece of trash like you, crawling out of the slums, a bottom-feeder like this—and you dare call yourself an apprentice of Cain Wizard Tower?"

Haige extended his thick fingers, jabbing at Tylen's chest, each poke carrying the force of humiliation:

"Kid, know your place!"

"You're nothing but a dog raised by those big shots! If they tell you to collect corpses, you collect corpses. If they tell you to eat shit, you eat shit!"

"And a waste like you can't even be a good dog!"

Haige leaned in close to Tylen's ear, lowering his voice with venomous intent:

"A dog should know its place. You're not worthy of stepping through that door and defiling your master's eyes."

The moment he heard those words, Tylen's pupils dilated slightly.

So that's it.

This wasn't a simple robbery.

It was a hired murder.

"Feeling like I'm polluting someone's eyes? Looks like it can only be Jane, who couldn't stand the sight of me in class!"

"What a rotten world—just sitting through two lessons and I deserve to die?"

Tylen sneered inwardly, laced with anger.

To those lofty nobles, a life like his, a bottom-tier apprentice, probably wasn't worth a single strand of their pet's fur.

Since you won't give me a way out...

Don't blame me for being ruthless.

Just then, a crisp electronic chime rang out in his mind.

[Emergency quest detected!]

[Background: The jealous and domineering young lady Jane believes you've polluted the noble air of her classroom and has ordered the lowlife thug Haige to kill you.]

[You don't want to die, of course. Enough is enough—no more enduring!]

[Emergency quest: [Don't Bully the Young and Poor] officially activated!]

[Phase 1 objective: Kill Haige!]

[Reward: 1500 EXP, Knowledge Crystal x100.]

[Quest summary: Thirty years east, thirty years west! You people clearly have no idea the weight of those five words: "Don't Bully the Young and Poor"!!]

Staring at the pale blue light flickering across his retina, Tylen almost couldn't hold back a laugh.

System, you really get it.

He'd been figuring out how to make his move with minimal fallout, but now—with a quest reward dangling in front of him—why hesitate?

Kill the bully, earn the EXP, collect the crystals, and look good doing it.

Where else could you find a deal like this?