The next day, Luke arrived at the secondary gym five minutes early. A few minutes later, Daphne and Veronica showed up, and when Veronica saw her friend leading her to Luke, she looked at her as if she had betrayed her.
"Why is he here?" Veronica asked, crossing her arms and looking at Daphne with a judgmental glare.
Daphne was her best friend and she knew she was distraught with Luke, so it felt like a betrayal to bring her here without her knowing.
"He beat me in a competition, and I had no choice but to bring you here. Argue or whatever, I'm out," said Daphne, who also wasn't in a good mood. Her loss to Wednesday had not sat well with her at all. It was the first time she had lost like that.
'What's wrong with her?' Veronica thought. It was strange to see her best friend in such a bad mood, although she always had that icy expression on her face, this was different.
"Didn't you hear what happened yesterday?" Luke said, noticing Veronica's confused expression.
Veronica looked at Luke, contemplating whether or not to speak to him. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she asked what had happened. Yesterday, she had been very busy with a task her grandmother had given her and had barely left her room.
Luke told her how Wednesday had wiped the floor with Daphne in the archery competition, and all the club members were witnesses. That was the reason for her bad mood.
'Was there someone so skilled?' Veronica wondered, surprised. She had known Daphne since they were kids and knew that she had been practicing from a young age.
"Have you already set your claws on another poor girl?" Veronica asked with a judgmental look.
"Who do you think I am?" Luke said with a grimace.
"A womanizer," Veronica replied without a second thought.
'Wasn't polygamy a thing?' Luke thought, confused. Veronica, Enid, Bianca, and several other girls were very jealous and looked down on womanizers. Maybe it was due to the generational shift.
This new generation of outcasts is much more connected with normie culture compared to previous ones. Thanks to social media, cell phones, the internet, etc.
"If you knew Wednesday, the last thing you'd say is that I'm with her," Luke said.
"Enough with the useless chatter. What do you want from me? Another technique as always? You only come to me for Blue Aura techniques," Veronica said with an offended tone. Seeing Luke's expression, she knew she had hit the mark and that he was only after a technique.
"Yes… I need a technique," Luke said, scratching his cheek. Veronica began to walk away.
"Wait. Didn't you say we were family? Family helps each other," Luke said, grabbing Veronica by the wrist. She and other family members should learn a bit from Dominic Toretto.
Veronica turned her head and looked at Luke indignantly, "We're family when it suits you, right? I didn't think you were such a shameless womanizer and rude person."
'Is it so hard to get two damn favors?' Luke thought, holding back his insults. He put his pride aside to ask for favors, as this technique was crucial for showing 100% real evidence against the Spellmans.
"Stop insulting me. I have feelings," Luke said, putting on a wounded expression. To his surprise, his act didn't work.
"Your feelings? Stop acting. You're just doing it to manipulate me," Veronica said with a disdainful smile.
'I need to take another approach,' Luke thought.
"During all the holidays, I wanted to integrate you into the family, but you always rejected me in rude ways. Now you want my help? Hmph, keep dreaming," Veronica said, pulling away from Luke's grip.
Luke remembered his last vacation at the Umbrío estate. What Veronica said was true. She had always wanted to include him or do activities with him, but he had always rejected her without much tact. Maybe her anger was valid.
"It's true that I was rude to you… and I want…" Luke began, showing a rarely-seen expression on his face.
"You want?" Veronica repeated.
"I want… to offer you my apologies," Luke finished the sentence with difficulty.
'Hmm, his look of embarrassment seems genuine,' Veronica thought, moving closer to Luke to examine his face. She wanted real apologies, not fake ones.
"However…" Luke said just before Veronica could accept his apology and close the matter.
"I thought you wouldn't make excuses," Veronica said with a slightly furrowed brow.
"Those aren't excuses. At the Umbrío estate, you were the only one who treated me well and wanted to include me. Everyone else hated me. Your father always looked like he wanted to kill me with his gaze, and the same goes for that old woman," Luke said, referring to his grandmother as "old woman."
This time, Veronica was silent, not knowing what to say. Her cousin was right. She had noticed the hostility from everyone towards him. She was the only one who treated him well; her grandfather barely spoke to him, and everyone else was hostile.
"If I accepted your invitations, I'd just get more hate and your father would likely reprimand you. Everyone saw me as a calamity for the Umbrío family," Luke continued.
'Did she care about me?' Veronica thought.
"You're right," Veronica said after a few seconds. She had been in Director Weems's office when Natasha showed Sophie's letter revealing that the Spellmans had made deals with demons. This could drag the Umbríos into a war with the Spellmans, and no one in her family wanted that.
"Out of the entire Umbrío family, you're the only person I consider family. Well, Goodbye," Luke said, turning away and thinking of another way to get the technique. Maybe he should steal from a family of psychics or something similar.
"Wait!" Veronica said, grabbing Luke's wrist.
"What's wrong?" Luke asked, turning around and noticing Veronica's flushed face. He didn't understand why she was blushing. Was his previous comment that cheesy?
"I'll lend you the technique you need. I can't promise anything. It might be an advanced technique, and they might not give it to me," Veronica said.
"Really? Thanks," Luke said honestly. This would save him a lot of trouble and help him get strong evidence.
"Don't thank me yet. You'll need to give me something in return," Veronica said.
"Oh, what do you need?" Luke asked. He preferred this arrangement. That way, both of them would be even.
"You have to help me train my Green Aura," Veronica said with a grimace.
"Alright. What kind of training?" Luke asked.
"Physical training," Veronica said with a disgusted expression.
'Finally, she'll make use of the Green Aura,' Luke thought.
"Why the sudden change? I thought you hated physical training," Luke said.
He knew Veronica didn't like training and building muscles. She was like a princess from an old, wealthy family with no interest in combat.
"My father wants me to improve my physical abilities since I have a Green Aura that is good for that as well as for healing… At first, I didn't want to, but thinking about it, last year's attack would have been much easier if I had defeated the two witches more easily," Veronica replied.
"Mm, I see. You'll have to get rid of those long nails if you want to throw punches," Luke commented with a slight mocking smile. He couldn't imagine Veronica throwing punches and kicks left and right.
"Shut up. What technique do you need?" Veronica asked.
After talking a bit more, they parted ways. Veronica told him it would take two or three days to get the technique if her father agreed to give it to her. Once she got the technique, they would also start Veronica's training.
'This turned out better than I expected,' Luke thought, satisfied as he returned to his dorm. He thought it would take a long time to get the advanced technique, but he would have it in less than a week.
As for whether Veronica's father would give her the technique, he had no doubts that he would. Veronica is the spoiled child of the Umbrío family. She is talented, intelligent, and has two auras. They see her as the future of the family. If she wants a technique, even if it's advanced, they will give it to her without much hesitation.
Unlike normies, in the outcast society, there is no 100% patriarchal or 100% matriarchal structure. It all depends on the talent of the marginalized person. If you have three siblings and you're a woman, but you have two auras and great talent, it's almost certain that you will be the next family leader. Everything operates on meritocracy.
In the case of having two auras in psychic families, it almost immediately makes you the next family leader, but if the three siblings have one aura each, the one who shows the most talent will generally take the leadership position.
There are cases where a user of one aura is more talented and powerful than his or her brother or sister of two auras, and ends up being the leader of the family, but it is difficult for a user of two auras to be weaker than one who has only one.
Two days later, Veronica gave Luke an old-looking book whose only content was the Memory Extraction technique. The problem was that the book had five hundred pages just discussing that technique.
How many theories and variables could a damn technique have? The content was in a difficult language due to ambiguous words and a convoluted writing style. So far, it was the most challenging book Luke had encountered. His photographic memory was of little use if he couldn't understand the explanations in the book.
Fortunately, he had Edgar to help him. He didn't know how long it would take to grasp the theory of this technique. Then, he would have to move on to the practical part, which would be even more difficult.
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