The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

When Snape heard Ryze's purpose, he still had his usual sarcastic expression on his face.

“Honey Fruit…Blake, do you think I’d be interested in something that sounds like a child’s treat?” Snape looked at Rhett with a sarcastic tone. “If you want to share your Valentine’s Day snacks, go find those immature brats in Gryffindor Tower.”

Snape's sneer subsided slightly only after Rhett explained that the fruit was cultivated by Professor Sprout himself and had excellent healing properties.

He coldly took the glass bottle from Ritz's hand, unscrewed the cap, and smelled it.

The sweet scent made him frown, and then he walked to the workbench next to him.

"Since you rate it so highly, let's see if it's really as amazing as you claim."

He didn't let Ryze leave, so Ryze obediently stood aside, watching the potions master's actions.

Snape took a small crucible, lit the furnace, and skillfully poured in some kind of transparent neutralizing agent.

Next, he used a knife to cut off a small piece of fruit pulp from the sample and precisely placed it into the crucible.

As the fruit pulp melted, a faint wisp of smoke rose from the crucible, and then Ryze saw Snape stirring the crucible in a strange rhythm.

Ritz hadn't seen this method in the book; it must have been a technique Snape developed himself.

About two minutes later, the liquid inside the crucible quickly turned emerald green and emitted a strong fragrance.

Seeing the situation inside the crucible, Snape's tense expression relaxed slightly.

"The reaction is mild, with no sediment..." he muttered, then scooped up a spoonful of the liquid, quickly observed it, and tasted it.

He carefully felt the effects of the medicine on his own body, and then pondered for a while.

About half a minute later, Snape opened his eyes and took several long, thin test tubes from the shelf, then dripped several liquids and powders into the crucible one by one.

Ritz recognized dragon's blood, aconite powder, hemlock essence, and several other substances that Ritz could not yet distinguish with the naked eye.

But judging from the appearance of these materials, they seem to be quite irritating and toxic. It appears that Snape is currently testing the stability and specific therapeutic effects of the honey fruit.

As the liquids and materials fell, Snape's eyes became much sharper than before.

He used a new stirring technique, constantly waving his wand above the crucible, presumably pouring magic into it.

The emerald green liquid in the crucible began to tremble violently, as if it might explode at any moment.

After a series of complex changes, the color changed from the previous emerald green to a deeper dark green.

But under Snape's precise control, they were always kept on the verge of erupting.

After boiling violently, the liquid inside the crucible eventually changed from its previous emerald green to a deep dark green.

Snape stared at the changes in the potion until it had completely stabilized before taking another sip, then frowning as he made his judgment.

"Its exceptional stability and compatibility with materials neutralize most of the toxicity of dragon's blood and aconite."

He turned to look at Ryze, a hint of sarcasm still in his eyes: "And it can also suppress the bitterness of aconite and dragon blood... I guess that's what you value most, isn't it?"

Snape gave a curt overall assessment: "While the name 'Honey Fruit' is utterly absurd, its medicinal value is indeed worth studying... I will personally go to Pomona to discuss the cultivation of this plant and subsequent medicinal experiments."

After saying that, he didn't forget to add a sarcastic remark: "It seems that your 'cooking potion theory' finally has a chance to find a foothold with this sweet and cloying fruit and develop more dessert potions."

Ryze stood to the side, calmly accepting Snape's assessment: "Thank you for the suggestion, Professor. We hope to develop a dessert potion that has a chance of winning a prize at Potions and bringing glory to the school."

Snape's expression grew even colder, and he immediately told Ryze to get out of his office.

Rizzi naturally left the underground office quickly as well.

After leaving the office, Reese appeared relaxed.

Although Snape was harsh, his reaction showed the potential of the Honey Fruit, and he also learned a few new stirring techniques, which was an unexpected bonus.

Unfortunately, even though the honey fruit is harvested once a month or so, it would take at least a year to cultivate it on a large scale. Before that, he probably won't be able to use too many honey fruits for potion research.

On the weekend, as usual, Rizzi went to Lupin's place for tutoring. In between practicing alchemy and fighting, he told Lupin about the matter.

After all, he had personally witnessed Snape putting aconite powder into the crucible, and Snape had clearly stated that honey candy could suppress the bitterness of aconite.

"Madame Pomfrey's research also mentions this. In addition to its excellent healing effects and stability, only a small amount of juice is needed, combined with magic, to greatly enhance the taste of the potion."

Lu Ping was reading a thick alchemy book when he heard this, and he couldn't help but look surprised.

He had heard about the seed that Ritz had found before, and he knew that the fruit grown from that seed would ripen this week.

But I never expected that this fruit would have such a great effect.

It has excellent therapeutic effects, rare stability and compatibility, and even the ability to improve the taste of medications.

"The fruit you discovered...can it really suppress the bitterness of aconite without affecting its medicinal efficacy?"

As a werewolf, he knew the taste of wolf venom better than anyone else.

Not only is it difficult to prepare, but its medicinal properties are also very unstable. It is best to take it within a week after it is prepared, and the taste is so bitter that it can numb the tongue for several days.

Although he can now take wolfsbane medicine, he has already surpassed most werewolves who can only lose control on the night of a full moon.

However, it can be said that the current predicament of wolfsbane medicine is due to two main reasons: the high cost of raw materials and the instability of its efficacy, as well as its extremely poor taste.

Now, thanks to the appearance of honey fruit, not only can the taste of the medicine be improved, but its efficacy may even become more stable than before.

These improvements alone are already very significant for the werewolf group.

Chapter 159: Let Me Test the Medicine

Moreover, the changes that honey and fruit can bring are not limited to this.

In the decades since the development of the wolfsbane medicine, everyone initially placed high hopes on it, believing it to be the greatest weapon to change the current state of the werewolf race, which is the biggest threat to the wizarding world.

However, over the past few decades, many potions masters, including Damocles Bellby, the developer of the potion itself, have been researching ways to improve the wolfsbane potion, but without much success.

Today, wolfsbane medicine still has extremely high costs and is difficult to prepare, and it has not yet solved the problems of poor taste and stability.

“If honey fruit really is as Snape said, tolerant and stable in the face of highly toxic and irritating ingredients…” Lupin explained to Rizzi, “then it’s not just about improving the taste.”

His potion-making skills were indeed only good, but he had naturally learned about the properties and principles of the wolfsbane potion, which was closely related to him, a long time ago.

He explained to Reiz, "The reason why wolfsbane medicine is difficult to brew is that many of the core ingredients, including wolfsbane and aconite, are extremely toxic. In order to suppress it, a large amount of expensive and unstable neutralizing agents must be added. It is precisely because these complex neutralizing agents overlap with the taste of aconite itself that wolfsbane medicine has a terrible taste."

"If the juice of the honey fruit can provide a stable environment for brewing the wolfsbane medicine, I think the margin for error in the brewing process will be greatly improved, and it may even greatly reduce the cost of the medicine!"

Ryze nodded, indicating that after a month of potion research, he now had a clear understanding of the wolfsbane potion.

He recalled the procedures Snape used when testing the medicinal properties of honey.

When he first added aconite and dragon's blood, Snape was actually quite cautious, just as he had been when he was brewing the wolfsbane potion.

But during the cooking process, Ryze clearly noticed that Snape's expression quickly relaxed, and his eyes were more intently watching the changes in the liquid inside the crucible.

“From that perspective, honey fruit might indeed be crucial,” Rizz thought seriously.

The most difficult part of brewing wolfsbane medicine is its potential for toxic conflicts to erupt at any time.

In order to maintain balance, the wizard must expend a great deal of energy to control the heat and the stirring rhythm.

If honey fruit can act as a buffer and neutralizer in wolfsbane medicine, then the threshold for brewing this medicine could probably be lowered considerably.

If the difficulties in preparation, costs, taste, and stability can all be improved, the price of wolfsbane medicine may even drop to a level that most werewolves can afford.

“It probably won’t be that easy to actually add honey fruit to the formula for the wolfsbane potion,” Ryze calmly analyzed. “Although Snape was a genius in potions, improving an already mature potion still requires a lot of efficacy testing and long-term observation. If it reacts with certain ingredients during storage, no one can afford the consequences.”

"The biggest problem right now is still the yield. Although Professor Sprout is helping, this time the fruit only contains five seeds, and the next fruit will not ripen for at least another month and a half."

"Moreover, the cost of large-scale cultivation is still uncertain. It can be said that apart from the taste, the other three aspects are still unknown."

Lu Ping did not show disappointment after hearing this; instead, he smiled gently.

"Ritz, I've waited for many years, what's another year or two?" Lu Ping leaned back in his chair, looking much more relaxed. "For people like us, as long as there's a glimmer of hope, it's enough to sustain us for a long time."

He looked at Ryze with a serious expression: "If you want to conduct research on this now, I'd be happy to be your test subject."

These words startled Ryze: "You mean you want me to start trying to improve the medicine before I've even been able to brew a regular wolfsbane elixir?"

He looked up at Lu Ping and realized that the other man was not joking.

Lupin knew very well that it was unrealistic to expect Snape to take the initiative to improve the medicine for him.

Even with Dumbledore's influence, Snape could at best just follow the proper procedures and brew a passable potion.

If Snape were to actually make improvements, that potion master might completely ignore the taste in pursuit of the potion's effectiveness, and might even deliberately make the potion taste even harder to swallow than it does now because of past grudges.

It's not that he can't endure hardship; after all, he's been used to hardship since he was a child.

But if possible, we should try to reduce this unnecessary suffering as much as possible.

But Ryze is different.

Although he hadn't actually seen Ryze brew medicine in front of him during the past month, just hearing Ryze discuss and research wolfsbane potions in casual conversations was enough for him to see Ryze's amazing talent in potions.

Even compared to Snape and Lily back then, he was in no way inferior.

More importantly, Ryze also possesses the ability to divine.

In a field like potion research, which requires countless trials and errors and consumes a great deal of time, divination often helps researchers avoid dead ends that are not immediately apparent, allowing them to find the path to the finish line sooner.

In Lupin's opinion, it's hard to say what the upper limit of Ryze's potion skills is, but his growth rate may even be faster than Snape's back then.

He was happy to offer some help to Rez and his classmates in the process.

There was also some of Lu Ping's own thoughts behind this – honey fruit has been proven to have great development potential, and as long as the planting scale is increased, it will inevitably affect the formulation of many current medicines.

He had no doubt that after obtaining the Honey Fruit, Snape, with his advantageous position and his own potion-making skills, would be able to improve a large number of potions, including the Wolfsbane potion.

But years of grudges had created a subtle antagonism in him.

Just as Snape loathed them, he didn't want the potion he would rely on for the rest of his life to be something Snape had improved.

In contrast, he preferred the name of the reformer to be Ritz.

After all, when it comes to the advantage of being close to the source, it's clear that Ryze, the discoverer of the honey fruit, has a greater advantage.

"It's fine to just conduct some testing on the medicinal properties of the honey fruit first, and I also believe in your abilities so that I won't end up with a failed product."

“If Sirius knew about this, he would definitely support my decision,” Rupin added softly, a slight smile playing on his lips. “When he’s been having people collect materials and data on the wolfsbane potion lately, he keeps saying that if you could surpass Snape in his area of ​​expertise, it would be one of the most celebrated things in decades.”

Chapter 160: Potion Discussion

After listening to Lupin's words and finishing his classes for the day, Ryze returned to Hogwarts and pondered for a long time.

To consider improving upon the normal methods of preparing medicine before mastering them does indeed sound a bit presumptuous.

However, if this new material, honey fruit, truly has such stable medicinal properties that it can replace some of the neutralizing agents, then it does have the potential to reduce the difficulty of preparing wolfsbane medicine.

So after a simple divination to determine the outcome, Ryze brought up the idea at the next Potions conference.

Actually, after the research on wolfsbane medicine reached a bottleneck, everyone now just gets together every week to talk about their progress in practicing basic skills and the growth of that batch of wolfsbane and aconite.

At most, they will share it after someone finds new research theories related to wolfsbane drugs.

It wasn't until Rizzi, before the meeting adjourned, that he revealed his idea of ​​using honey fruit and his attempt to improve the wolfsbane medicine to reduce the difficulty of brewing it.

At first glance, it was surprising that Ritz had quietly accomplished such a major feat.

“You mean, you’ve discovered a completely new magical plant, and Professor Snape has already tested its medicinal properties himself?” Jemma Farley looked at Rhett with some surprise.

Rizz nodded and recounted the details of Snape's examination.

When the fish was tinged with rage, it became interested in this new material that sounded incredible.

It has an excellent taste, and when taken directly, it has therapeutic effects comparable to dasycarpus extract. It also has rare stability and compatibility, and can even neutralize the toxicity of many highly toxic materials, including wolfsbane, aconite, and dragon's blood.

It sounds like a magical fruit from a dream.

Even more surprisingly, this fruit was cultivated from an unknown seed that Rizz found in the Forbidden Forest.

"Is it true that it can neutralize the toxicity of wolfsbane and aconite without affecting its efficacy?" Penelope's expression became much more serious.

She knew very well that if what Rizz said was true, then this newly discovered fruit would likely have a significant impact on the world of herbs and potions in the near future.

Rizz's reputation will likely spread throughout the wizarding world because of the appearance of this fruit.

“At least that’s what Professor Snape said, but he used a special processing method that I haven’t seen in the book. I don’t know how difficult that method is, so I think we can do a simple medicinal study on this part of the pulp first.” As he said this, Ritz took out a glass bottle containing a small portion of the fruit.

Apart from the few small pieces of fruit they tasted at the beginning, Professor Sprout divided the fruit into seven portions.

As the discoverer of the fruit, Rizzo naturally gets a share.

“Don’t mention this to Professor Snape,” Rizzi whispered, reminding him. “I heard from Professor Snape that he not only went to Professor Sprout to get two more fruit samples, but also seemed to have some disagreements with Mrs. Pomfrey about research directions. In the end, he even managed to take some leaves and stems from that vine for testing.”

"If he finds out I have another copy, he'll definitely mock me for overestimating myself and wasting materials."

Upon hearing Ryze's words, the others smiled, while Jemma rested her chin on her hand and focused her gaze on the glass bottle in Ryze's hand.

"That's definitely Professor Snape's style. He always felt that he could handle these things on his own... However, since he even took the leaves, it means that this honey fruit must have great potential."