The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

"No waste of materials..."

Then he suddenly spoke to Penelope, "If even you are not confident, then I intend to abandon the previous improvement plan, Penelope."

Penelope was taken aback: "Give up?"

"Do you have a new idea?"

Percy shook his head, then pointed to where Riz had just been, feeling as if he had found the answer: "Look at White, he hasn't tried any radical changes in the past three weeks, but the quality of the potions he brews has been steadily improving each time."

"Snape's words today, 'no material wasted,' while not exactly a compliment, are certainly the highest praise I could give him today."

Penelope frowned immediately: "That's an evaluation of the first-year students, Percy!"

“We’re in fifth grade. If we just hand in a standard answer from the textbook, do you really think Snape will let us pass?”

Percy's face stiffened, but he still tried to reason with Penelope: "My plan has reduced some side effects, but the efficacy has hardly improved. If we continue to improve it in this direction, to be honest, I feel that the probability of my improved plan staying is too low."

"But as you can see, everyone else's ideas are all in a mess. If I can brew a high-quality euphoria next week, with some minor improvements, I think it will greatly increase my chances of staying!"

Penelope stared at Percy, finding it hard to believe such words would come from his mouth: "This is a potion-making scheme. Everyone's thinking is that even if they don't get chosen, they can still improve their potion-making skills through this experience. How is your thinking any different from standing still? And do you think Snape can't see through this self-righteous attempt to escape?"

Percy gritted his teeth: "This isn't running away, it's a strategy. Of course I want to improve, but only if I stay in this classroom!"

"If I can pass next week, I can at least hold on until Christmas. At least... at least I won't be ashamed of being eliminated before a first-grader!"

The air fell silent.

Penelope felt that Percy's thinking was really problematic.

"What are you comparing yourself to Rez? He's been steadily improving his fundamentals. Do you think he doesn't want to make improvements? Last night in the lounge, I asked him about the improvement materials I gave him, and he could recite all the key points. It's just that his theoretical foundation has limited him, which is why he hasn't started yet."

“I bet Ryze hasn’t given up on improving it. He’s probably found an empty classroom right now and is continuing to practice the euphoria potion. Next week, his potion will definitely be more than just ‘not wasting materials’.”

"By then, who do you think will be more embarrassed?"

Chapter 100: The New Prismatic Talent

The Room of Requirement has now been transformed into an extremely sophisticated private potion-making laboratory.

Ritz has been renovating this room for a month.

He tweaked the space to resemble a chemistry lab, adjusting not only the room's decor and temperature but also the lighting to ensure the potion's color wouldn't be affected by ambient light.

What pleased Rizz most was the row of storage cabinets against the wall.

At the beginning of the month, he set a requirement for the room: to collect any magical materials that were left behind, not cleaned up, or were still usable due to experimental accidents within Hogwarts Castle.

The House of Requirement truly lives up to its reputation as Ravenclaw's masterpiece, perfectly fulfilling Ritz's requirements.

Over the past few weeks, he has collected quite a few scraps of materials from the storage cabinet in this room.

Ryz was standing in front of the crucible at that moment.

Penelope's guess was correct. Starting last week, Rizzi had gradually begun to study the improvement methods of the euphoric drug, mostly using the materials collected by the House of Requirement.

Of course, he wasn't completely reckless; the several potion books and the pile of papers covered with arithmetic and divination formulas on the side proved his seriousness.

He would attempt an improvement only after three normal brewing processes. The ingredients for the improvement were first identified through pharmacological analysis, then the formula was verified using arithmetic divination, and finally confirmed using divination.

He even confirmed through divination a modified method that Snape had discovered during his student days—that just one peppermint could suppress more than half of the side effects of euphoria.

However, through divination, he discovered that this method would cause many new problems, making the quality of the euphoria less stable.

Therefore, the method Snape developed for making the potion must have been a radical change to the traditional method, which was beyond his current skill level.

"In short, peppermint is fine. Use that as a benchmark, then add other ingredients, and then just trust the feel of the juicer."

Ritz made a note in his notebook and then decided to push the juicer to its limits in this last week.

While brewing the standard euphoria, he was also calculating the improvement materials that could be tried.

Today, from afternoon to evening, he completed the brewing of the euphoria potion three times. Then, looking at the list he had spent a whole day compiling, he tried the improved brewing method again.

Side effects were reduced by half; while the efficacy wasn't exactly amazing, it was still quite good compared to other drugs tested.

If a better solution cannot be found for the rest of the week, this recipe can be presented to Snape as an explanation.

Rizz glanced at the time; it was a little past ten o'clock at night.

Normally, he should be going back now.

However, Ryze planned to spend the night at the House of Requirement, as he could easily create another lounge next to his room with a simple thought.

After all, today is the last day of November.

If Reese is not mistaken, the quarterly settlement should take place tonight.

Since tomorrow is the weekend anyway, he plans to stay here until the early hours of the morning to study his new reward before going to sleep.

After that, Ryze spent his time studying potion recipes at the lab bench until a new system notification appeared in his mind.

Ravenclaw's Vision is entering its quarterly settlement period.

Raven Collection Progress: 77/75 (Excellent)

You can choose one of the following rewards.

Then, three option cards appeared in front of Rizzi.

[Mad Scientist: Accelerates your thinking and grants different buffs based on your body type (currently provided buffs: 24% speed, 42 skill haste, 12% adaptability, 8% maximum health)]

[Sprite Magic: Greatly increases your talent in Shapeshifting. There is a chance to transform from Animagus form into Yordle form (the chance increases with your Shapeshifting level, currently 1%).]

[Attribute Stacking: Provides you with four random attribute forging tools (can be obtained repeatedly)]

When the choice came up, Ryze was initially somewhat disappointed.

Ultimately, I still couldn't find another Cursed Fearbringer.

His gaze then fell on the card on the far right.

If playing games is all about physical fitness, then he wouldn't hesitate for even a second; he would definitely choose the attribute without hesitation.

But let's forget about it for now.

After all, silver-attribute forging tools are too overpriced. Unless he can be given four gold-grade or higher forging tools, he definitely won't choose them.

Rhett is somewhat conflicted about the remaining mad scientist and the magical sprites.

The specific effects of the former's accelerated thinking are unknown, but more importantly, it increases the percentage of the three attributes. It should be based on the game's settings: the larger the size, the higher the health and adaptability; the smaller the size, the higher the movement speed and skill speed. He is currently benefiting more from the smaller size bonus.

Relying on the effects of magic and potions, he can actually freely adjust the buffs he receives according to his needs.

The latter enhances his shapeshifting talent and also provides him with a Yordle form.

Putting aside the transformation talent boost, the most important thing is that Yordle form.

The Yordles are a rather outrageous presence in Runeterra.

Creatures made of spiritual energy are almost immortal.

It will actively adapt to its surroundings and gradually transform into a corresponding form.

They also have a natural affinity for magic.

If this rune allows him to switch directly into Yordle form, then Ryze wouldn't need to think twice.

Once selected, it means that basically no one in the material world can harm him. The only thing he needs to worry about is some random sealing techniques.

However, the prerequisite of meeting the required level of transformation skills makes Rez more inclined to be a scientific fanatic.

His current transformation skills are probably at the level of a third or fourth grader, but the system only has a 1% chance of success.

Ryze really didn't know how far he would have to research this path before he could fill the progress.

Considering the current attitude of the wizarding community towards Animagus, it is believed that they cannot be transformed into magical creatures.

If Ryze wants to become an even more powerful Yordle, he would probably not only have to become the world's number one shapeshifter, but also develop a shapeshifting technique that allows people to transform into magical creatures.

After confirming that the system had no chance to refresh, Ryze chose the leftmost option, the Mad Scientist.

As the prismatic runes before him emitted a burst of light, turning into fragments that flowed into his body, Ryze instantly felt his previously drowsy mind become exceptionally clear.

Chapter 101: The Changes Brought About by a Scientific Madman

Feeling the changes in his mind, Ryze looked down at his body.

Although his appearance remained the same, he could feel that many changes had occurred inside his body.

Unlike in the game, where the mad scientist only increased movement speed, here it increased overall speed.

Judging from the stats alone, Ryze's movement speed and attack speed both benefit from this bonus.

But outside the panel, Ryze could also feel that his body seemed much more flexible than before, his reaction speed was faster, and his senses were more acute.

Previously, even with the 25 movement speed bonus from his shoes, he still needed to stay focused throughout to avoid falling while accelerating, but it was still difficult to maintain full speed in narrow and complex terrain.

For example, when walking through Hogwarts Castle, Rhett Butler would only maintain a speed of 10 meters per second at most, even if he was in a hurry, to avoid hitting the walls or falling down the stairs.

But now he felt that with his reaction speed and physical coordination, he should be able to try running at full speed through Hogwarts Castle.

These changes alone have already made him very satisfied.

The remaining 42 points of skill haste, along with a small amount of Adaptability and a percentage increase in health, will greatly help his growth.

However, the most important thing is the first sentence in the rune: "Accelerate your thinking."

Ryze could feel his overactive brain.

This feeling is wonderful.

He used to need to concentrate to get his mind working quickly, but now, even just standing here, Ryze can feel new ideas popping up one after another in his head.

This is definitely more than a 24% bonus.

It's likely that his mind was first accelerated by the runes, increasing his own thinking speed, and then he received this 24% speed boost.

Riding this wave of energy, Ryze, eager to test just how powerful the accelerated thinking of a mad scientist really was, returned to the experimental table.

His gaze fell on the draft papers he had worked out throughout the day.

The complex formulas he had been looking at suddenly became intuitive in his eyes.

He felt that his brain's processing speed had increased by at least two times compared to before, and that was far from its limit.

"The formulas here can be simplified; this part doesn't need so many calculations, and many areas can be optimized..."

He muttered to himself, then picked up a pen and paper and began to recalculate.

For him now, many formulas no longer require pen and paper calculations; he can arrive at the answer almost instantly with a thought.

Even with the more complex formulas, he has a general idea in mind, and he can judge whether the calculation is correct or not with just a glance.

In half an hour, the formula, which was originally nearly ten pages long, was finally compressed to one and a half pages with the help of Rezs. Moreover, it was optimized to make the results more accurate than before.

After doing all this, Rez looked at the reasonably good recipe he had compiled earlier and began to study the details he had calculated.

"There are no problems with the ingredients, but the quantities need to be fine-tuned, and the magic power at each stage also needs adjustment..."

After reviewing and adjusting the formulas and recipes in hand, Rez decided to strike while the iron was hot and make another euphoria to test his ideas.

After nearly a hundred practice sessions, Rez is now very skilled at handling materials. He quickly prepares the materials, then lights the fire and begins to put the materials in one by one.

Two hours later, a golden liquid appeared in front of Ritz, and just the smell of it gave one a light and refreshing feeling.

Having brewed so many doses of Pleasure Potion over the past few weeks, Ryze, while still unable to discern the ingredients and effects of the potion at a glance like Snape, could still tell just how excellent the quality of this particular dose was.

In other words, the materials he added did not affect the efficacy of the medicine at all, so the next step is to see how much the side effects have been reduced.

Rizz sealed the euphoria potion and then used his divination skills to analyze its effects.

"A 30% reduction... That seems acceptable, but there's definitely room for improvement," Ryze analyzed.

Because he felt the juicer's instincts several times during the cooking process, it's clear that there's still a lot of room for adjustment and optimization in this recipe.

"We still have a week left, let's see if we can take it a step further."

Looking at the time, it was almost 3 a.m., and Ryze finally felt a bit tired.

He cleaned the experimental table, and the Room of Requirement sensed his need, quickly darkening the room.

In the following week, Rizzi's growth rate once again surprised the Hogwarts professors.

Professor Flitwick was surprised that Ryze's dueling footwork had suddenly become more agile, and his casting speed and attack speed had also been greatly improved.

Professor McGonagall also sensed that Ryze's understanding of transformations seemed to have deepened considerably compared to before.

Professor Babling went even further, telling Ryze to slow down his study pace. He finished reading a thick book, "Ancient Runes Explained," in just two days. This speed seemed a bit too much to her. She thought Ryze had completely given up on other aspects of campus life and was focusing all his attention on ancient runes.