[Juicer: You have become more skilled at creating "drinks," and there is a chance for the drinks you make to gain additional effects. The higher your proficiency, the greater the probability of these effects appearing.]
Looking at the Hextech Rune resting in his palm, Ryze finally let out a long breath of relief.
Compared to what he had expected, this special Raven task had turned out to be far simpler. It had only taken him two days to complete—hardly the ordeal he had mentally prepared for.
Snape might have a notoriously unpleasant personality, but at the very least, he was a man who kept his word. Since he had agreed to let Ryze sign up, he followed through without hesitation.
Of course, Ryze wasn't naïve enough to believe things would remain easy. Snape would undoubtedly continue to find ways to make things difficult for him in the future. The moment his performance slipped, Ryze had no doubt he would be removed from the list without a second thought.
Still, things were different now.
With the Juicer ability, his talent in potion-making had already taken a noticeable leap forward. Even if Snape increased the difficulty, Ryze wouldn't be forced into desperate measures like using divination to guess answers. That kind of workaround had been exhausting and inefficient.
He rubbed his temples, wincing slightly.
The aftereffects of combining the Hyper-Sensation Spell with the energy potion were starting to catch up with him. A dull ache throbbed behind his eyes, and his mind felt sluggish despite the lingering sharpness of his heightened perception.
Right now, he had no energy left to study the rune any further.
What he needed was rest.
Preferably, a visit to the hospital wing, a calming potion, and a full night's sleep.
As soon as Madam Pomfrey saw Ryze enter, she immediately recognized his condition.
"You again?" she said with a sigh, though there was more concern than irritation in her tone. "Don't tell me you've been overusing that spell again."
Ryze gave a tired smile but didn't bother denying it.
He had seen this expression before—on Terry and Anthony, his roommates, when they pushed themselves too hard. And more than once, he had been the one lying in a hospital bed after testing the limits of his mana capacity.
Madam Pomfrey shook her head.
"I've told you countless times—your health comes first. No amount of academic pressure is worth this."
Despite her scolding, she was gentle in her actions. She guided him to an empty bed and instructed him to lie down while she prepared the necessary remedies.
She didn't pry into what he had done or why. That wasn't her style. Her sole focus was treatment.
A few minutes later, she returned with a calming potion and several other medicines designed to ease mental fatigue. Along with them, she brought a small tray with bread.
"You haven't eaten, have you?" she asked, placing it beside him. "Eat something before you sleep, or you'll wake up in the middle of the night starving."
Ryze nodded gratefully.
As he drank the calming potion, something unexpected happened.
His mind instinctively began analyzing it.
The taste, the texture, the subtle layers of flavor—his senses broke them down automatically, as if dissecting the potion at a fundamental level.
However, the calming potion was far beyond his current expertise. It was typically studied by sixth-year students preparing for their N.E.W.T. examinations. At his level, Ryze could only identify a handful of familiar ingredients.
The rest remained a mystery.
Even so, a thought surfaced in his mind.
If he spent enough time studying it… perhaps he could recreate something similar.
Not the potion itself, at least not yet—but a drink with comparable taste and partial effects.
His gaze shifted to the silver rune in his hand.
"This rune… it has potential," he thought.
In his previous life, he had known how to cook. He wasn't exceptional, but he could prepare decent meals. He understood basic flavors—sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and spicy—and could tell when something tasted good.
But that was the extent of it.
He had never possessed the ability to analyze a dish down to its exact ingredients or proportions after a single taste. That kind of precision belonged to master chefs.
Now, however, things were changing.
With the Juicer ability, he had begun developing a similar intuition for drinks.
If he familiarized himself with enough ingredients and their interactions, he could eventually reconstruct flavors he experienced. Over time, this could evolve into the ability to reverse-engineer potions themselves.
It was an ambitious idea.
Perhaps too ambitious.
The moment he started thinking deeply about it, a sharp pain flared in his head again.
Ryze winced and shook his head.
"Not now," he muttered.
He quickly finished the remaining potion and forced himself to relax.
There would be time for analysis later. Right now, he needed rest.
That night, his sleep wasn't perfect, but with Madam Pomfrey's treatment, it was sufficient.
By the time morning arrived, he felt noticeably better.
At the Ravenclaw table the next day, Ryze had barely taken a seat when he noticed three familiar figures approaching him with unmistakable urgency.
Hermione led the charge.
"Oh my god, we finally found you!" she exclaimed, speaking so quickly that her words nearly blended together. "We've been looking for you since yesterday afternoon!"
Ryze blinked, trying to process her rapid explanation.
"Your roommates said you were in the potions classroom all day, so we went there—but you weren't there! Instead, we ran into Snape, and he yelled at us and took five points from Gryffindor!"
She barely paused for breath.
"Then Ron thought you might have been murdered—"
"I did not say murdered," Ron muttered defensively.
"—so he dragged us to find Professor McGonagall, and she scolded us too! Thankfully, she didn't deduct any points. Then Ailey helped us confirm you had gone to the hospital wing, or we might have gone to find Professor Babbling or Professor Flitwick next!"
By the time she finished, Ryze felt like he had just listened to an entire conversation compressed into a single sentence.
He rubbed his temples again, though this time out of mild confusion rather than pain.
"I see…" he said slowly.
Hermione leaned forward, concern replacing her earlier urgency.
"So how are you feeling now? Snape didn't do anything to you, did he? I wanted to come see you yesterday, but Harry said you needed rest."
Ryze raised a hand, gently stopping her.
"I'm fine," he said. "Really."
He lifted the cup in his hand.
"But before anything else… let me finish this."
Inside the cup was oat milk—something he had prepared himself.
"Have you eaten yet?" he added. "If not, you should grab something first. Whatever you want to discuss can wait a few minutes."
The three exchanged glances.
They hadn't eaten.
As they settled down with breakfast, Ryze took another sip of his oat milk.
Since acquiring the Juicer ability, he had discovered something interesting.
The definition of "drinks you make" was surprisingly broad.
Even something as simple as dissolving sugar in water counted.
And when he prepared a drink carefully—adjusting sweetness to his preference—something remarkable happened.
The act consumed a small amount of mana.
In return, the drink gained a subtle enhancement.
For example, a glass of sugar water he had made earlier restored an additional three points of mana over thirty minutes.
The effect was minor.
And it didn't stack with similar effects.
But it proved something important.
The additional effects were not random.
They were influenced by skill and precision.
The oat milk he was drinking now had been prepared using domestic magic to control temperature and proportions perfectly. As a result, it carried a temporary effect—increasing maximum health by a small margin for several hours.
Again, the enhancement was modest.
But the implications were significant.
If he could achieve the same level of precision with potions…
If he could refine his technique to the point where every step was controlled and intentional…
Then perhaps he could reliably produce enhanced effects.
Not occasionally.
But consistently.
Ryze took another slow sip, savoring the taste.
It was better than any oat milk he had ever had before.
Not just because of the magic—but because it was perfectly balanced.
For the first time, he felt like he truly understood what he was creating.
And that, more than anything else, was the real power of the Juicer ability.
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