Stelle felt an unprecedented exhaustion. Just as she was about to rest, she saw the men in blue and red clothes from earlier staying together, seemingly discussing something.

Seeing Stelle, Lancer proactively stepped forward and greeted her, "Well, if it isn't our Miss Stellaron. I was originally going to mix you a drink, but seeing as you're underage, I'll pass."

"I feel like the life I'm living now is fake," Stelle said bluntly.

Lancer: "Isn't that a coincidence? Sometimes I also feel like I shouldn't be a Herta Space Station guard."

"So, you want to board the Astral Express?"

Stelle nodded, "That's right."

"Every year, a few Staff Members like you who want to board the Astral Express appear, but when the time comes, they all retreat without exception," Archer said calmly. "They understand that they are only looking to escape a heavy life, not an adventure where they could lose their lives at any moment."

"So, which one are you?"

— —

Arcane.

"It seems the threshold for boarding that Astral Express is lower than we imagined."

Jayce leaned against the workbench with his arms crossed, frowning slightly, "But the level of danger is also hard to estimate, after all, whether it's Belobog, Xianzhou Luofu, or Penacony... they are only a small part of the Astral Express's journey and life. However, Viktor, your previous hope that the Astral Express would stop at the Runeterra, allowing you to follow the Astral Express one day to a more technologically advanced star system for treatment—I think that much is achievable."

"What's more important is this," Viktor said, pointing to the deep blue crystal ball embedded in the workbench. "The Hex Crystal contains extremely unstable Arcane energy. According to our previous calculations, the power we can currently use is only a tiny fraction of what is in this little sphere. Restricted by Piltover's technology, we cannot utilize the deeper Arcane energy."

"You mean that if we have the chance, we could hand this over to Madam Herta or Mr. Screwllum for research, and then, through their efforts, develop a more efficient, stable, and perfectly utilized Hextech based on the crystal?"

Viktor nodded.

He was a genius of Piltover, but the geniuses of the city-state were separated from the geniuses of the cosmos by an entire, vast galaxy.

If, within his candle-in-the-wind life, he could witness the birth of perfect Hextech and see it applied to improving Zaun's environment, allowing the two city-states to reunite, that would be the sight he wished to see before his death.

"If it's those two geniuses, they can certainly do it. People from the Genius Society can research pulse weapons that annihilate dozens of star systems; studying a Hex Crystal would definitely be trivial for them. The power of the Arcane... I believe it will certainly pique Madam Herta's interest."

— —

"I yearn for an unknown adventure," Stelle stated resolutely, speaking her true inner thoughts.

"Just maintain the status quo. Someone more suitable will come along eventually. I'm just an insignificant mortal." Archer shrugged, "Regret? Is there anyone in this world who doesn't experience regret? But if everyone hesitated because of them, I don't think there would be any heroes in the world."

"Even without knowing the path ahead, some people still set out, pursuing a certain wish. This is certainly foolish, but it is precisely this foolishness that gave rise to the The Nameless, the Trailblazers, and the heroes. That doll on your body is proof that a certain hero once existed."

Archer pointed to the ultra-ancient evil god figurine clipped to Stelle's waist.

"Do you know what this is?"

"Just a clumsy piece of craftsmanship. Yet, because of someone's innocent wish, it eventually left a record in history," Archer said. "The Astral Express might have already departed, or perhaps not, but as long as you truly want to embark on this path, what does it matter if there is no Astral Express?"

"If you truly feel you are a The Nameless, there is only one thing you need to do."

Stelle understood his meaning and nodded, "I should set off!"

Stelle ran through the Herta Space Station, chasing the departing Astral Express. Along the way, countless Staff Members stood up and called out to her in unison:

"Go to the research room! Go to the cafeteria! Go fishing, go watch a movie!"

"Isn't life on the Herta Space Station good? How many people envy the life you have here?"

"There is no Antimatter Legion here, no Abominations of Abundance. This is the safest paradise in the cosmos."

Stelle realized that something was preventing her from leaving; she had to evade them.

— —

A Certain Scientific Railgun.

"How bizarre... This scene really makes people uncomfortable."

Inside the Tokiwadai Middle School dormitory, Shirai Kuroko subconsciously hugged her arms tightly. Putting a scene that should only appear in horror movies into a hallucination—they really weren't afraid of making Stelle feel disgusted.

"It's like locking a bird in a cage, but flying is a bird's instinct. Since Stelle is someone who has stepped onto the Path of Trailblaze, it's impossible for her to be willing to be trapped by you forever like this. This kind of false tranquility can only work on ordinary people, right?"

"But if there really was a place where I could live comfortably, that would be quite nice~ Especially if I could be with Onee-sama every day~" Shirai Kuroko smiled brightly and nestled close to Mikoto, naturally wrapping her arm around Onee-sama's shoulder and rubbing against her like a spoiled kitten.

"For most ordinary students, Academy City is exactly that kind of place..."

An ordinary person's wish is a stable, comfortable life, but the premise is that the person Caster wants to restrict is an "ordinary person." In Mikoto's view, Caster took it for granted that the essence of those so-called "heroes" was just ordinary people—but forgot why they became heroes.

Could a comfortable, stable life really make Stelle give up on being a hero?

— — Don't look down on heroes, hey!

— —

"Don't go any further. The future of a The Nameless holds only void and despair."

"Do you think you are special? Those The Nameless who were better than you... whether it was Tiernan or Kalebek, they were all swallowed by the dark deep space and never returned!"

Stelle crossed her arms and smiled triumphantly, "So, you finally admit... I am a The Nameless?"

Instantly, all the voices speaking to her fell silent; they stopped talking.

This time, Stelle smoothly passed through them, arrived at the Curio room in the back, and found the baseball bat that belonged to her.

She had once thought she would never have the chance to hold it again in this life.