No, it's not obvious. In fact, it cannot be shown. It was not shown earlier. I've asked for someone to show how the list I wrote violated the rules, and no one has been able to do so for good reason.
Yes, but it has not been shown whether the expenditure is during the lab process, during the final ritual, or split between them. If the final ritual is not a lab process (which is the point of the second question), then we do not have an answer to the first question.
Chris