Wyvern

You may be looking for Project Wyvern where the stated purpose was seeing how much the subject could endure before destruction.

Fun stuff<ref>To be clear, long term use isn't that bad. Long term, heavy use is.

Sy is taking several times the maximum dose from ages 8-18.
[Edit] To be more clear, remember that Wyvern primarily grants plasticity/'liquidity'. The ability to learn languages or adapt your brain to a task as if you were a child again. Students would take it to essentially refresh the brain, discard the 'little things' and the walls that stand between them and their ideas, focus, or ability to take in new information. In high doses it allows retraining of the brain to emphasize certain qualities at the cost of others, as if you spent your entire life to that point dedicated to, for example, analysis of people and faces, or taking in environmental cues, or math, or hand-eye coordination.

Side effects include trauma (from the pain), memory loss, and the chance that an unprepared mind may inadvertently 'train' in new habits or tendencies, obsessions or compulsions. Regular users at the academy might develop tics as a consequence, if not going off the deep end, but this is more easily dealt with if the brain is introduced to Wyvern while still plastic, such that dealing with Wyvern becomes the brain's primary focus. - WildBow on Reddit</ref>

The injection process is extremely painful,<ref>To be clear, long term use isn't that bad. farfel08: I think people are underestimating the fact that it is super painful.

Wildbow:This is very much a factor. PTSD-inducing pain.

mannieCx:Even at tiny doses? Or just Sy doses?

Wildbow: Even in regular doses. - WildBow on Reddit</ref> usually ameliorated with pain relief drugs but these become ineffective in high enough concentrations of Wyvern.<ref name="13.2 e1">“Wyvern,” Lacey said. “Modified, and in high P-concentration, for Sylvester’s project.”

“Ah. I’ve used that regularly enough, often with other drugs to dull the pain after injection,” the man said. “Should I have my people look for any stolen pain medications? I’d imagine he’d have some dependencies.”

“None,” Lillian said. “The P-concentration is too high. He took doses high enough that nothing would put a dent in it, from the beginning to the present.” - Excerpt from Black Sheep 13.2</ref>

References[edit]