The instant the adamantine needle pierced his vein, a scalding liquid surged through the infusion tube into Renato's bloodstream.
It felt as though someone had poured a kettle of freshly boiled water straight into his veins. The scalding liquid spread up his arm. He could clearly sense every blood vessel the drug passed through, and the searing agony traveled to every corner of his body.
Agony, ringing ears, blurred vision... The indescribable suffering instinctively brought back memories of drawing blood from the Deep Dragon with the Touch of Dakoul.
Because of the dosage, the discomfort caused by the Dragon Blood Elixir was nowhere near as intense as the Touch of Dakoul siphoning away life energy like a pump. Renato's tolerance for pain was enough to endure it.
But that shadow spell had lasted only a few seconds before the dragon head's struggles interrupted it. The pain had struck fiercely and vanished just as quickly. This infusion, however, would last an entire hour.
This was outright torture!
To endure the physical discomfort, Renato closed his eyes and tried to force himself into a meditative state, hoping to weather the long wait that way.
Under such pain, however, he could not settle his mind at all.
Pain tore apart every attempt to empty his thoughts. Unable to meditate, he instead found his mind wandering aimlessly amid the relentless agony:
I'm a little hungry.
I want meat. It has to be a feast, a proper reward for myself. Preferably fresh, with sinew attached to crunchy cartilage, warm blood bursting between my teeth...
For some inexplicable reason, Renato remembered the young Drow he had killed in a duel not long ago.
His longsword had pierced the boy's chest, and scarlet liquid had flowed from the wound...
*Keno Fryce's lungs rose and fell inside his