Marvel: Incursio

Minutes later, a master knocked on the door. He had brought a key for the room that had been prepared for Illyana. After Liam and the master exchanged a few words, the master guided them to Illyana's new room.

"This room is quite special," the master said.

"Why?" Illyana asked.

"The Ancient One personally prepared it, which doesn't usually happen," the master replied with a smile.

"What did she do? It's just a room, right?" Illyana questioned, puzzled by how someone could prepare a room to make it special.

"Good question," the master began. "It isn't just a room. The Ancient One cast certain spells over it as a safety precaution."

"What kind of spells?" Liam asked.

"She didn't tell me," the master admitted. "But she did say you wouldn't have to worry about your powers, even if they take control."

Illyana nodded, a smile spreading across her face, clearly happy with what the Ancient One had done for her.

After Liam checked out Illyana's room, Liam returned to his own. Once inside, he opened a portal to the volcanic area where he regularly trained.

Upon arriving, he noticed that researchers had set up at the volcano, and the lava pit itself had grown significantly larger.

'End result from the fight with the whale,' Liam thought.

He opened a portal to another one of the least-visited volcano in the world—Heard Island Volcano. Located on a massive mountain, its closest human presence was thousands of miles away in Australia, making it an ideal spot to continue his training.

"Now it's finally time to properly test everything I can do after my armor evolved," Liam murmured.

'Let's start with my new abilities,' he thought as he summoned a white rift in front of him.

Stepping through, he appeared inside Incursio's dimension.

'Step one,' Liam thought, glancing around. 'I'll need to scan this place thoroughly later—especially for those blurred figures I saw before.'

After walking for several tens of feet, he opened another white rift ahead of him and stepped through. He reappeared a significant distance from where he had first opened the portal.

"It's not exactly teleportation," Liam observed. "It's more like if I open a rift here, move a certain distance in Incursio's dimension, and open another portal back, I'll have traveled an X amount of distance in my world."

He reached into the air, pulling out a notebook from his dimensional pocket spell, and began jotting down his findings.

After noting the basics, he repeated the process a few more times to estimate the distance difference.

'Three feet (one meter) in Incursio's dimension equals sixteen feet (five meters) on Earth,' he recorded. "It's as if the dimensions are layered over each other, but one is stretched while the other isn't."

Putting away his notebook, Liam opened another white rift and concentrated. As the portal disappeared, the ground around him began to shift. This time, he limited the effect to a small rocky area just a few feet wide.

"Interesting," he muttered, crouching to inspect the altered terrain. ''It feels like Incursio's dimension is merging with the space around me."

Rising to his feet, he ímagined a stone pillar in his mind. Focusing his energy on the spot where he wanted it, he watched as an old pillar rose from the ground, its texture matching the ones he had seen in Incursio's dimension.

"It seems I'm using energy to link with the domain around me, allowing me to shape structures from it," he mused. While looking up at the sky, he attempted to send his energy above him, but nothing happened.

"As I suspected, I can only summon structures where the domain is in direct contact with the ground. At least, for now."

Liam didn't want to start drawing any conclusions yet. He had only used this ability a couple of times, and limitations could be overcome with experience in a lot of cases.

'It's a bit like reality manipulation,' he thought, transforming the pillar into a wall, then into a doorframe. 'But not quite the same.'

Experimenting further, he recreated the stone spikes he had frequently used during the Hydra cleanup mission.

"The energy cost for these spikes is much higher than for the pillar," Liam noted.

He examined the spike's tip, channeling more energy into it until it grew sharper and sharper.

"The sharper it becomes, the more energy it consumes," he observed.

Testing its durability, he punched the spike with his bare hand. It remained intact. With Incursio summoned, his next punch caused cracks before the spike shattered entirely.

He had no need to test the terrain further; he had already seen the Tyrant run over it, creating only shallow craters.

"As for domain control," Liam continued, "right now, I can only keep it as a sphere around me. I have no control over its shape or where it spreads."

He attempted to change the area covered by his rocky terrain but failed.

"Also, I have no idea how to gain finer control. It doesn't seem to respond to energy manipulation or mental imagery alone."

Closing his notebook, he unsummoned the domain. "That covers my new abilities," he concluded.

"Next, I need to test the changes to my body, the armor's new resistance, and further explore Incursio's dimension," he thought. "I'll start with my body."

He already knew his cells now contained yellow-white energy, and his eyes had changed. What he didn't know was how these changes affected him.

"Let's start with my eyes," Liam decided, unsummoning Incursio and inspecting them.

He attempted to channel energy into his eyes, but nothing happened.

"They're just for show?" he muttered. "Or I'm not doing something right."

After several more attempts, he turned his attention to his cells.

"I know the red and white energy heal and help my physical body adapt," Liam said. "Now, for the white energy itself."

"During the fight with the Tyrant, I could control the white energy far better than before," he recalled. "I wonder if I can create a spell entirely from it."

Concentrating, Liam tried channeling only white energy into a construct spell. Yellow energy, however, went in despite his efforts. When he finished, a white shield with a faint yellow tint materialized.

'This is the best I can manage,' he thought. 'Even focusing on blocking the yellow energy isn't enough to keep it all out and costs a lot of energy. Still, with practice it should be doable.'

He wrote down the current ratio—65% white to 35% yellow.

He tested the shield with various spells, finding that the shield adapted a lot faster and better.