"Where the hell did you pull that giant bucket from?"
Almost simultaneously, everyone asked the same question.
No matter how you looked at it, Steven just reaching behind himself and pulling out something that clearly shouldn't be possible to carry was downright terrifying.
"Let's not get caught up in trivial details like that." Steven waved a hand dismissively. "Just think of it as my special Originium Art. Anyway, here—be a good girl, drink your medicine."
Calling over Gladiia—who still looked a little wronged after his earlier words—Steven gestured toward the milk bucket in front of him.
It had felt like nothing more than a regular cup when he was holding it, but now that he had put it down, it was this massive?
Well, now that he thought about it… it made sense.
In Minecraft, a single bucket could hold an entire block of water—roughly a cubic meter, nearly a full metric ton.
Scaling that to real life… yeah, this size seemed about right.
Gladiia, on the other hand, didn't find Steven's actions strange at all.
She had already seen him do things that defied common sense.
To her, this was just another one of her all-powerful father's special abilities.
But when she got closer and saw the huge bucket of milk, even in her current childlike state of mind, she couldn't help but feel a little… speechless.
Was this really for drinking? It looked more like something she was supposed to bathe in.
A metal bucket nearly the size of a bathtub, filled to the brim with a milky white, sweet-smelling liquid.
The scent wasn't unpleasant, and she trusted that her father wouldn't harm her.
But this was still a bit too much, wasn't it?
"Yeah, okay, I know this might be… just a little bit excessive," Steven admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "But trust me, this stuff is really good for you. You're still growing, so you should drink as much as possible."
He was starting to struggle to keep a straight face himself.
Yeah… this was definitely more than he had expected.
"Wait, hold up—what exactly are you trying to do to the patient?!"
At that moment, Gavial finally snapped out of her earlier shock.
There was no way she was buying Steven's "Originium Art" excuse.
This was clearly just an ordinary bucket of milk. She knew that smell anywhere.
She was seriously starting to suspect that Steven was some kind of primitive native from a long-lost village in the middle of nowhere.
What kind of ridiculously outdated folk remedy was this?
Forget whether or not it would cure Gladiia's memory loss—drinking that much milk in one go would definitely kill her first.
"Yeah, what exactly are you trying to do to my comrade?" Skadi had also snapped back to reality after Gavial's outburst.
She stepped in to stop Steven, looking at him with a deadpan expression. "I know you helped us, and we're grateful for that. But this is just… too weird."
She had no idea what was inside that bucket. But just the sheer size of it was already wrong.
"Man, why don't you guys ever trust me?" Steven sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "There's seriously nothing bad about drinking this. If you're that suspicious, why not just try some for yourselves? I guarantee it's completely safe—no toxins, no side effects, no nothing."
Despite his exasperation, he wasn't about to back down.
Reaching into his inventory, Steven pulled out a bowl, scooped up a portion of milk from the bucket, and handed it to Gladiia.
Although Steven had no idea what effect drinking just a single bowl of milk would have—compared to chugging the whole bucket—he figured it was worth a shot.
A full bucket of milk might seem intimidating, but a single bowl? Much less so.
Gladiia, who had no defenses against Steven to begin with, naturally took the bowl from his hands and downed the milky-white liquid in one go.
Then, under Steven's expectant gaze, Gladiia licked her lips and let out a soft, adorable milk-scented burp.
—And that was it.
There was no sudden awakening, no dramatic transformation, no burst of regained memories followed by an immediate attack on Steven.
She simply looked like someone who had just finished a bowl of milk and was still savoring the taste.
It was obvious now—her amnesia wasn't a buff that could be dispelled; it was more like the brain's own self-defense mechanism.
Still thinking that maybe the dosage was too low, Steven scooped up another bowl and handed it to her, his gaze fixed on her eyes with renewed anticipation.
Yet, what greeted him was still the same innocent, childlike stare. There was no trace of the sharp, blade-like coldness in her gaze that he had seen the first time they met.
"It failed."
"Well, duh! As if that was ever gonna work!" Gavial, who had failed to stop him earlier, couldn't help but retort.
She had also been watching Gladiia closely for any reaction, but now she was just questioning why she had even expected anything to happen in the first place.
If milk could cure illnesses, what was the point of medical operators like her?
Dipping a finger into the white liquid at the edge of the bucket, Gavial tasted it cautiously.
Yep. It was just plain, ordinary milk—still slightly warm, as if freshly milked.
Where the hell had Steven even gotten something like this?
Just as Steven was about to sigh in disappointment while listening to Gavial's complaints, something completely unexpected happened.
A dark blur suddenly shot past him and dove straight into the milk bucket.
Both Steven and Gavial froze on the spot.
Even Skadi, who had been moving closer to Gladiia to check on her, hadn't anticipated that the other Abyssal Hunter, who was supposed to be resting quietly on the bed, would suddenly spring to life and dunk herself into the bucket—gorging on the milk like a starving beast.
And not just that—she was letting out an unsettling, almost ecstatic laughter, causing even Steven to furrow his brows in concern.
"How long… has she been like this?" Steven asked Gavial, his expression darkening.
Maybe his new "adopted daughter" wasn't so bad after all—at least she wasn't waking up and instantly going berserk.
"Forget complaining! Stop her! Something's really wrong with her!"
At first, Gavial had assumed Specter was just having one of her usual episodes. But the more she listened, the more she realized—hidden beneath the gulping and laughter—there was something else.
A painful, wretched cry.
A realization hit her like a lightning bolt—something was seriously wrong.
"Skadi! Get her away from the bucket! Now!"
The moment the words left Gavial's mouth, the crazed girl suddenly clamped her hands around the iron bucket, crushing it inward.
The milk inside was squeezed out in a violent burst, spraying everywhere like a popped water balloon.
And when her face finally emerged, everyone could see—her delicate features were now twisted in agony.
"It hurts! Why does my spine hurt so much?!"