Shadows Reveal Hidden Light — Wayne Sanders novel Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Missing Something

She had failed again.
This time, Joanna had to rest for a full two months.
They grew even more used to seeing her give everything to the team.
She worked too hard. Even without a contracted beast, her combat strength was still impressive, making them feel that she would succeed sooner or later.
As the battles continued, her affinity points kept rising. She became more and more attractive, and the four of them slowly developed an unspoken desire to possess her.
They didn’t want her to leave. They didn’t want her to escape.
They wanted her to stay in the team, even to belong only to them.
But there were four of them, and none could be replaced. In the end, the four decided they would share her.
In secret, they went nearly mad thinking of how to cage her.
That was why stopping her from getting a contracted beast was something they all agreed on.
If she never had a beast, she would never be able to leave the team.
Yet even in this situation, Joanna never chose to become their girlfriend.
She never gave up any chance to grow stronger.
In the end, they had to weaken her. So right before the SAT, they kicked her out of the team.
As for sending her to Kayden, they had another plan.
They believed that if she was humiliated, she would realize how good the four of them were and come back obediently.
They thought that since they couldn’t have her, they would hurt her first. Then they would appear as her saviors, and by then she would surely obey.
But only half a day had passed, and they already felt like something was missing in the villa.
After training, they tossed their sweaty clothes aside and sat at the dining table, waiting for food, only to find that there was nothing ready to eat.
All four of them looked unhappy.
Cedric took out his communicator.
“She should be done throwing her tantrum by now. Tell her to come back and cook. This is so annoying. Hmph. After I coax her back, I’ll make her cry and beg me.”
But when the call went through, a mechanical voice replied.
“You have been blocked by the other party. Connection failed.”
Cedric’s face darkened.
Joanna had cut them off completely.
“Forget it. Let’s eat at the cafeteria. After that, we’ll try to clear Desolate Castle,” Lucas said.
The others nodded.
They called Rhoda and headed to the cafeteria together.
…
At the same time, Joanna was also heading to the cafeteria with Nighthowl.
Nighthowl was still small, but Joanna liked him very much. She couldn’t help holding him while walking, gently stroking his smooth silver fur.
“Nighthowl, our living conditions aren’t very good right now. We can’t cook for ourselves, so we have to eat at the cafeteria. Once we clear some dungeons and earn money, we’ll buy cooking gear and eat it on our own.”
The food there was terrible.
Most of the time, it was just bland mush. Different energy mixes blended together to fill the stomach.
Natural ingredients were taken from dungeons and were very expensive. Joanna couldn’t afford them right now.
At the cafeteria, Joanna ordered two meals and also got Nighthowl a bone-shaped biscuit.
Nighthowl sniffed it and caught the smell of many additives, which killed his appetite.
He sat steadily on the chair without eating and instead looked at Joanna.
Joanna was biting into a nutrition bar. When she saw Nighthowl looking at her, she handed it to him.
“Do you eat the same as humans? Sorry about that. Here, have this.”
Nighthowl sniffed it and caught Joanna’s scent. He wagged his tail and swallowed the bar in one bite.
Not bad.
Joanna finally relaxed.
At least Nighthowl could eat human food, so she wouldn’t starve him. She had heard that in the past, a Summoner once summoned a giant dragon. The dragon could eat an entire house in one meal. That Summoner had to sell himself to a major corporation to support it and ended up signing a 500-year contract.
On top of that, contract beasts summoned through the Bloodcall Circle did not have high loyalty. It was also an equal contract. Nighthowl was a mythical-level creature, so Joanna was really afraid that if he was unhappy, he might just leave.
At that moment, the cafeteria suddenly fell quiet. Whispering spread through the room, followed by waves of amazement.
“It’s the top team!”
“Lucas is so handsome!”
“Neil looks so gentle.”
“Wow, I like Cedric. He looks super strong.”
“I prefer the cold type. Bruce is really handsome too.”
“Why don’t I see Joanna? Who’s that woman standing with them?”
“Don’t you know? Joanna got kicked out of the team today. I think she should’ve been kicked out long ago. She’s useless without a summoned beast and only held onto the spot because she’s pretty. She’s so weak and just held the team back.”
“That’s Rhoda. She’s very strong. If she hadn’t been forced into that all-girls team before, an S-rank swordsman like her would’ve stood out long ago.”
Surrounded by praise, Rhoda smiled. She felt an unmatched sense of satisfaction.
Most of the compliments were actually for her four teammates.
But in her eyes, praising her teammates was the same as praising her, because she was now the one standing in the team.
Only Joanna, sitting in a corner, kept her head down and said nothing.
She felt unlucky and a flash of disgust crossed her face.
But she also noticed something. After all 100 affinity points were gone, she no longer gave off that special charm that drew attention. With a mask on, people easily ignored her.
That wasn’t bad either.
Lucas led the four teammates to get food. Of course, he ordered natural food—high-end pasta, potatoes, sweet potatoes, roasted beast meat, and stracciatella soup.
Rhoda was very satisfied. Being with the top team was great. They had high school subsidies and ate only natural food. These foods were rich in energy, especially the beast meat. One pound cost 500 Starcoins.
The five of them ordered a full 20 pounds.
It was an extremely lavish meal, costing nearly 20,000 Starcoins.
If she ate like this every day, her attributes would definitely increase a lot.
But after they sat down and took a few bites, all four of them frowned.
“Why is this food so sticky? It’s disgusting.”
“These potatoes have no flavor at all.”
“Why are these sweet potatoes so watery?”
“This meat is so tough.”
“Oh my God, is there even egg in this soup? Why is it so salty?”
They hadn’t eaten in the cafeteria for over two years. Their palates had long been spoiled. Eating this felt like chewing wax.
Only Rhoda was confused.
She thought the pasta was soft, the potatoes had a fluffy texture, the sweet potatoes were sweet, the meat was fragrant, and the soup was rich.
Isn’t this good enough?
She felt the four of them were a bit too picky.
But she had no choice. Rhoda could only pretend the food wasn’t good, frown, and swallow it slowly instead of eating big bites.
Still, she couldn’t help wondering what kind of food they had been eating before.
Just as they were complaining, a figure walked past, two tables away.
The four of them locked onto the target like hunting dogs.
“Joanna!”