The Foundations of Potions

Snape, still dressed in a pure black robe, crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Developing Potion?"

"Yes, Professor Snape," Wizet nodded. "I wanted to send some postcards home, so I made some."

"Developing Potion? Inferior chemicals, a cost-cutting trick!" Snape sneered. "Fine! Let's start with the armadillo today!"

Armadillos are seemingly majestic animals, covered in bony armor, yet they are quite timid.

During the day it stays obediently in the cave, and only comes out to forage at night. When it encounters danger, it will curl up its body and use its bony armor to defend against attacks.

In the magical world, the gallbladder of such animals, which may carry leprosy, can be removed and the bile used to make Brain-Boosting Potion.

Snape began by dissecting the armadillo, his wand held with effortless ease, as if it were a sharp scalpel, every movement precise and precise.

He made a small incision in the abdomen, touched the wound with his wand, and used Cutting Curse to penetrate deeper, separating the armadillo's bony armor from its flesh.

Gathering blood, removing flesh, taking bones, separating internal organs...

As Snape cast his spells, disassembling the armadillo into its parts, he could also give lectures, explaining the effects of each part in Potions.

Wizet could tell that this was more basic, back-to-basics knowledge.

It's like laying the foundation before building a house; it's buried deep underground, but it's a necessary project.

It involves tracing the origins of the drug, exploring its effects, and why it has those effects.

To understand this part of the knowledge, one will naturally need to learn about Ritual Magic. One needs to start with this Ancient Magic in order to truly understand the various properties of a material.

This is a very interesting process, somewhat similar to the story of Shennong tasting hundreds of herbs.

Ancient wizards also discovered the first few materials through personal experience, and used these materials as "mediums" to carry out various Ritual Magic.

Once these basic materials are determined, they will be used as a basis to summarize and categorize several types of materials.

Once these types are identified, the newly discovered materials will replace the original materials, the Ritual Magic will be performed again, the characteristics of these materials will be observed, and then they will be categorized into the corresponding types.

This is an extremely complex process that requires countless trials by ancient shamans, with corrections made time and again, in order to arrive at a more objective and accurate classification.

For example, the most primitive material "medium" for making Armadillo Bile, which is used to make Brain-Boosting Potion, is oak.

Oak trees are widely used in Ritual Magic, possessing properties such as strength, courage, and wisdom;

These properties are also present in Armadillo Bile, which is why it can be used as a Brain-Boosting Potion agent.

As more and more materials are summarized, more diverse classification methods have emerged in addition to this type of classification.

By drawing analogies and comparisons based on the characteristics of materials such as color, smell and taste, appearance, origin, and growth state, the properties of the materials can be summarized.

Of course, the method of "drawing analogies" cannot be applied to all newly discovered materials, and it can also make mistakes. Therefore, practice is the only truth.

When faced with materials that cannot be "analyzed," ancient wizards would return to their origins, either using Ritual Magic to verify their properties or consuming newly discovered materials to personally experience their specific effects.

The second method was risky, so ancient wizards found an alternative: they would apply the material to the toad's back and observe what changes would occur.

It was around that time that a trend emerged among wizards to keep toads as pets.

Without understanding and mastering this fundamental knowledge, it is extremely difficult for a Potions to become Potions Master.

Because he only knows how to copy what he sees, but doesn't understand "why do it this way" or "would it be better to use another method or material?"

Snape said in a low voice, "Exploring their original principles and understanding this will make it much easier to concoct Potions directly."

He glanced at Wizet's notebook, which was filled with dense writing, including not only the knowledge he had just imparted but also Wizet's personal understanding.

It saves him the trouble and eliminates the need to repeatedly emphasize key points, which is why he is willing to maintain private tutoring.

Wizet wrote down the last part, shook her slightly sore wrist, and said, "Professor Snape... I would like to ask you a question."

Snape said succinctly, "Speak!"

In private lessons, there aren't many rules between them; questions are answered immediately to solve problems, which is much more efficient.

"It's about what you said at the very beginning..." Wizet said, "You said that Developing Potion are inferior agents, a cost-cutting trick."

"Can I understand it this way? This medicine only works on photographs, and photographs and this kind of handheld camera... were invented around these last few decades..."

He speculated as he spoke, "In other words... there were actually more complex versions of the Developing Potion before that. If we continue to explore along this line of thought..."

"The Developing Potion should be able to work on the canvas, meaning it can be used to create those kinds of moving, wandering portraits! Professor Snape, is that how I understand it?"

Snape still spoke very little, "Yes!"

"Professor Snape, I also found a passage in the notes..." Wizet picked up the notes, flipped through a few pages, and found the record he was looking for.

"Besides possessing 'creativity' similar to rosemary, Scarab beetle also have 'revitalizing' properties similar to birch sap..."

"If we combine Brain-Boosting Potion with Developing Potion, could we make the image more dynamic, or even generate simple thoughts?"

Snape didn't speak, but puffed out his cheeks, stared at Wizet for a long while, and then uttered the same word again, "Yes!"

Sometimes, knowing too much and having too strong an associative ability isn't necessarily a good thing.

He took a deep breath and banished the thought.

Wouldn't it be more convenient to do it all in one step?

Wouldn't that allow us to impart more knowledge?

With this in mind, he continued, "In this process, we also need some materials to mix them together, forcibly combining the two Potions in a crude manner."

Upon hearing this, Wizet immediately became intensely curious.

He had always been curious about the lifelike portraits inside the castle and wanted to know how they were made.

Now that he has finally been able to make contact, he naturally has to be on high alert and make sure he understands it thoroughly.

"Hiss!"

Just then, Snape suddenly gasped and instinctively covered his left arm.

His eyes widened, disbelief flashing in them, as he stared intently at Wizet ...