"That stature... My rival!" Ria voiced out as he moved forward hurriedly.

Teemee also seemed to recognize Gustav's stature from behind and followed after Ria.

​​

Ria arrived at their sitting position and sat down on the seat opposite Gustav.

"I knew it was you," Ria voiced out as he stared at Gustav.

Teemee sat on the seat towards Gustav's right side and greeted Gustav calmly.

Gustav just nodded slightly back in response and ignored Ria.

"You guys just left us back there in the last phase... And you, my rival, don't think I won't catch up soon. Just wait, you'll see," Ria voiced out with a loud voice as he pointed at Gustav.

"Your spit is reaching all the way here. When will you learn how to be quiet?"

Another familiar feminine voice could be heard from behind.

"Eh?" Ria squinted his eyes as he looked ahead.

A green-skinned girl, clad in a royal blue gown with pink gems embedded in different parts, forming flowery patterns could be seen walking towards them from behind.

A small hole was poked in the back of her gown, a little bit beneath the waist area where her long tail protruded out.

Her presence attracted the attention of many guests, just like Ria and Teemee.

-"Another top fifty worldwide participant,"

-"Everyone who flocks around Gustav is powerful,"

-"

"Cow tail... You're here too?" Ria voiced out with a slightly irritated tone.

"Filthy loud mouth... I didn't think Matilda would invite you also," Glade said as she arrived before their table.

"Glade,"

Angy voiced out as she stood up with a delighted look on her face and jumped into Glade's embrace.

"Angy," Glade hugged Angy also and rubbed her hair affectionately.

"I didn't know you were also invited," Angy said as she withdrew herself from Glade.

"Matilda seems to have invited everyone," Glade said as she took a seat beside Angy.

Now that there were four seated around this table, only two seats were left vacant.

Glade greeted Gustav, who reciprocated, and everyone began to converse.

'This place is gonna be pretty noisy soon,' Gustav said Internally while sighing.

"This would have been a perfect get-together if a certain loudmouth wasn't around to ruin the occasion," Glade said with delight and disgust before turning to stare at Ria afterwards.

"Hey, shut it, cow tail, you only ranked higher than me in the entrance test, but I promise to catch up soon," Ria responded.

"By the way, this table is reserved, so why are there still two extra seats here?" Teemee asked while staring at the vacant seats.

"Maybe Matilda invited Falco too," Angy said with a contemplative attitude.

"Falco wouldn't attend... His family are enemies with the Kwoiune family," Teemee replied.

"Who cares about family feud... They are them, and we are ourselves. He's not a man if he doesn't dare to attend the party after being given an invitation," Ria voiced out as he folded his arms and leaned his back against the chair with a repressed expression.

"Shut up... Not everyone's a tout like you," Teemee voiced out.

He understood very well just how the big families behave because he came from one himself. Although Ria was also the son of a well-renowned family in the city, he didn't act like it. He was the type who just liked to do things anyhow without caring about the consequences of his actions.

"Oh, I see... Maybe that's why he won't be attending," Angy said with an understanding look.

"But what about the other seat?" Teemee asked while still staring at the two vacant seats.

"Hmm... Maybe..." Before Angy could complete her sentence, another person voiced out from behind.

"Yo Gustav,"

Everyone turned around to stare at who had just arrived.

Gustav could already tell who it was from the voice. He was a little surprised as he turned around to look.

Approaching their table was a handsome-looking young chap with a bushy afro hairstyle and smooth melanin skin tone.

His smile made him look quite confident and approachable.

"E.E?" Gustav exclaimed.

'Who's this?' Ria and Teemee wondered as they stared at E.E.

They hadn't come into contact with him before since they didn't meet up with Gustav and the rest during the final test phase.

"Hey man, how you doing?" E.E reached out to give Gustav a handshake as he arrived before them.

Gustav shifted his chair backwards and turned around to return the handshake.

The guests were surprised to see Gustav greet someone in such a friendly manner.

He didn't even get up when Ria and Teemee arrived. Ria and Teemee happened to come from influential families, yet he acted nonchalantly with them while the unknown person who has just arrived was welcomed more warmly.

This made them wonder just who he was.

-"Did he say E.E..?"

-"isn't that the participants with the highest amount of gathered grandstones,"

-"He was also among the ones who didn't attend the display of the final results just like Gustav,"

-"Wasn't he from Malta City? What is be doing here?"

"Well, he's not the only one from another city attending this gathering, if you know what I mean,"

Some of the youngsters who also passed the final phase remembered E.E's name from the display.

Gustav was the participant with the highest number of points, but E.E managed to gather more stones than any other participant.

E.E took a seat afterwards on Gustav's left, which was one of the vacant seats.

"You travelled from halfway across the world to be here," Gustav stated as they sat.

"Yeah, Matilda invited me, and I was like, this would be a great time to visit your city before we leave for camp to train for years in isolation. So why not?" E.E replied with a smile.

Ria and Teemee stared at E.E, scrutinizing him. Ria was especially focused on checking E.E out to see what was so special about him that it made Gustav give him more attention than others.

"Calm down, fellas... If eyes could unclothe a person, I'd be naked by now," E.E voiced out with a burst of light laughter as he turned to stare at Ria and Teemee.