While Vaan felt bad for the dragon lords, they were feeling bad for him, thinking he was sacrificing his interest and prioritizing theirs.
"I can't believe it. The Supreme Leader chose the worse Fire Spirit to leave the better Fire Spirits for us… We don't deserve such a good Supreme Leader…" Pedyssin uttered.
"Ahh, I feel so guilty," Irmoss exclaimed and said, "We wouldn't have even gotten this chance to contract the Fire Spirits if the Supreme Leader didn't clear the Trial by Fire."
"And yet, he, the greatest talent the Red Dragon Clan had ever seen, is leaving the best Fire Spirits for us…"
"Haiz, It's already too late to stop the Supreme Leader," Sondrei sighed before mentioning, "He has already accepted the Spirit Contract with that Fire Spirit. How can the Supreme Leader be so selfless?"
"Everyone, always remember this moment," Astarot said emotionally with red eyes before adding, "The Supreme Leader has great expectations of us. We must not disappoint him!"
"Yes!" agreed the rest of the dragon lords beside Narvim and Khaleesi.
Considering their experience with Vaan, they doubted he was selfless like the rest of the dragon lords believed him to be.
They figured there might have been something special about that particular Fire Spirit he picked.
After all, Vaan didn't hesitate to pick the best magical plant in Khaleesi's collection.
Nevertheless, Khaleesi quickly changed her mind when Vaan returned to the dragon lords' side and gifted her a Rank 5 fire-attribute magical plant.
"This is repayment for the Peak-Rank 4 Bloodvein Ganoderma I used," Vaan said, handing over a Rank 5 Flameheart Lotus, which had similar properties.
But while the Rank 5 Flameheart Lotus had similar properties to the Peak-Rank 4 Bloodvein Ganoderma, the two were not comparable at all.
The Rank 5 Flameheart Lotus was far more potent than the Peak-Rank 4 Bloodvein Ganoderma.
Once the Rank 5 Flameheart Lotus was refined into a Rank 5 Flameheart Lotus Potion, its effects would be amplified even further.
Even ten—no, twenty Peak-Rank 4 Bloodvein Ganodermas would outvalue such a precious item.
"This is too precious, Vahn. I can't accept it," Khaleesi politely refused.
"Don't want it? Then…" Vaan shrugged before turning to Narvim. "This is for you, Lord Nar—"
"Nonsense! Of course, I want it!" Khaleesi snatched the Rank 5 Flameheart Lotus faster than Narvim could react. "How can you just give it away like that?!"
Khaleesi almost had a heart attack.
On the other hand, Narvim witnessed the precious Rank 5 Flameheart Lotus slip away like a gust of wind and felt pained in his heart
Opportunities were hard to come by and disappeared fast when they did come.
Nevertheless, Vaan simply smiled in response to Khaleesi's statement. It might seem a bit mean, but at least his method was very effective in getting the other party to accept.
No bullshit was required.
Meanwhile, the other dragon lords showed interest in the Rank 5 Flameheart Lotus, but they quickly controlled themselves.
After all, they were already promised precious resources to surpass their mortal limits. So there was no need to feel envious of a single Rank 5 Flameheart Lotus.
They were better than that.
Nevertheless, the spirit selection proceeded, and the dragon lords all contracted their Fire Spirits one by one.
Although it took a fair bit of time for them to decide the best among the hundreds of Fire Spirits to contract, they managed to get through them all in the end.
That said, the Fire Spirits were mildly offended.
(Hmph! We are settling with you because we don't have better choices. How dare you be picky with us! Take this! And that! Hyaa—!)
The newly contracted Fire Spirits pinched and pulled on the dragon lords' whiskers as they expressed their discontent.
Nevertheless, the dragon lords simply accepted their tantrums with wry looks. The Fire Spirits were no different from precious little children in their eyes.
That said, Kemun's contracted Fire Spirit was more mischievous as it messed around in his nasal cavity, causing him to sneeze.
The Fire Spirit flew out and slammed into the sand with a quiet poof. A few moments later, the Fire Spirit's head popped out of the sand and cried.
(Boohoo… He bullied me! I want to change partners!)
Kemun's eye twitched.
He didn't do anything and felt wrong. At the same time, he felt like it was a mistake to contract the Fire Spirit. They were going to become headaches and hard to please.
After all, the problem stemmed from the fact that they failed to contract the person they really wanted.
"Now listen here, you little s… thing. Don't cry… okay?" Kemun attempted to appease his contracted Fire Spirit.
He did his best to control his temper since the spirits had to be respected.
Nevertheless, it was still utter chaos for the dragon lords.
That said, it was none of Vaan's problem. Thus, he made them all leave to carry out their task. They could only try to appease the little troublemakers in their own time.
The next group of dragons to contract the Fire Spirits would be the young talents the dragon lords select.
Vaan didn't doubt there would be more chaos then. Still, that was a problem for others to about another time.
After the dragon lords left and the rest of the Fire Spirits returned to the heart of the black pyramid, Vaan summoned his contracted Fire Spirit to talk to it.
"Since I already called the others Topaz and Emerald, your true name shall be Ruby. Sorry if you're not a female," Vaan apologized while naming it.
"Fyuu, fyuu—!" the Fire Spirit expressed its emotion.
"Yes, yes, fuck you too," Vaan casually replied, didn't expect to be cursed. He guessed all Fire Spirits had fiery tempers.
However, he quickly paused after realizing Ruby wasn't cursing him. It just sounded like it but was, in fact, saying it was happy with the name.
Vaan saw the shock and devastation in its eyes, welling up with tears, and felt guilty.
"Oh, shit. Sorry, I didn't mean it," Vaan quickly apologized before explaining, "You know, fyuu-fyuu sort of sounds like… Well, never mind."
"How did I even mishear when we have telepathy? Is this part of your bad luck, perhaps?" Vaan wondered.
Ruby appeared even more despondent as it couldn't deny that it was indeed plagued by bad luck.