Rejuvenation Wasn't That Magical

Manus nodded and said quietly:

"Yes, the recipe for Shrinking Solution can indeed be used to brew an Elixir of Life..."

Shrinking the body and making the body younger were indeed two similar concepts that could easily be confused. Both could be described as "becoming smaller." Potions recipes with the same underlying properties could produce two different Potions, except...

"However, it requires extremely precise handling."

The most troublesome part was that the precision required in Potions was not precision in the physical sense of weights and measurements, but precision in the magical sense of conceptual properties.

In other words, it was not that Shrinking Solution had one precise brewing method. Rather, a given set of Shrinking Solution ingredients had only one corresponding precise method of brewing. While brewing, a wizard had to rely on perception to catch the subtle adjustments that needed to be made next.

If they got it wrong, the Potion would not necessarily be ruined, but the resulting Shrinking Solution would only be able to make the drinker's body smaller.

It could be said that this was actually a special recipe. Depending on the brewing method, it could produce either Shrinking Solution, a Potion of moderate difficulty, or an Elixir of Life, an extraordinarily profound Potion.

The latter was as difficult to brew as Felix Felicis, perhaps even far more difficult.

When sensing the next step, Felix Felicis had only right and wrong answers. It meant finding the right answer among the wrong ones. Though difficult, most wizards qualified to be called Potions masters could get it right eight or nine times out of ten.

The reason Felix Felicis was precious was mainly because it took too much effort, energy, and time to brew. A single batch took half a year, and the ingredients were exorbitantly expensive.