章 45: The Antarctic
After watching the clip, Liam thought, 'In five months, the Whiplash incident will happen. I could try to kill Ivan Vanko now to prevent that.' But he realized he couldn't. 'I'd need to know more about where he lives. When I opened a portal to Coulson's locker, I only had to focus on a few specific details, since SHIELD HQ is a known location and I had a clear mental image. For Ivan, all I know is that he's in Russia and I have a vague memory of the couch his father died on. For longer-distance portals, I either need very simple targets—like 'ocean' or 'desert'—or highly specific locations.'
Realizing that killing Vanko now wasn't possible, Liam opened a portal back to the volcano to continue his training. Stepping into the lava again, he paid close attention to the strange energy flowing through the armor. 'I still can't tell where it's coming from,' he noted. 'If I keep training, I will eventually get used to this energy and maybe even track where it's coming from.'
'This energy moves through my body, but I can't direct it at all. It just flows where it wants to. If I could control it, I'd not only have access to more energy, but I could also channel it to specific parts of the armor, making Incursio adapt faster in a fight.' Liam thought.
Eventually, he climbed out of the lava again, this time lasting longer than before. While waiting for his armor's cooldown, he returned to studying the Latin book. 'I'm almost done with the words for the Icy Tendrils of Ikthalon,' he thought, interested in the spell. 'It'll allow me to trap dozens of enemies in ice and kill them in an instant. It'll take time to master, but it'll be worth it.'
Once he could summon Incursio again, he went back into the lava to continue training. By the end of the week, he could endure the 1000-degree heat for 25 minutes straight. 'Not bad—my activation time has increased by three minutes,' he thought, pleased. 'Stimulating the armor like this improves activation time a lot faster.'
This week of training also brought new thoughts. 'The amount of energy flowing through me seems to have something to do with how long I can stay in Incursio,' he noted. 'And thanks to being under lava for so long, Incursio has adapted further, allowing me to store more oxygen inside. Now I can last around 15 minutes without fresh air.' The speed of this progress surprised him.
'Maybe I should try swimming deeper,' Liam thought, diving down into the lava pool. Slowly counting in his head, he stopped after a minute as he felt the temperature increase by a lot. Any further, and he risked melting the armor and killing himself.
Hovering in place, he felt a faint bit of dimensional energy below him. 'That's way too deep for now,' he noted, estimating the energy to be tens of meters further down. 'But what kind of energy would be under there?'
Knowing he can't investigate it right now. He swam back to the surface and climbed out, heading to his things. 'It's nice that no one comes here; I can just leave my books around without worrying.' Picking up his belongings, he opened a portal back to his room at the Sanctum. The night had already settled over the volcano, and he couldn't read his book anymore. Returning to the Sanctum would give him time to practice his magic spells and read through spell books.
His new training routine was well underway, beginning each day with resistance training, with breaks in between for reading and spell practice, before ending the night with more reading. 'It's not exactly fun to sit under lava, but I have to train myself,' he reminded himself. 'I've also started learning the dimensional energy detection spell the Ancient One recommended. It's called Eldritch Sight. It lets me detect dimensional energy within a sphere around me. Right now, the range is around 50 meters.'
'Once I improve the range, I'll start hunting dimensional tears. They'll be the best way to train Incursio and myself.' Liam activated Eldritch Sight while meditating, this was the way to increase the distance he could reach. Though the spell didn't let him see everything around him like Enel's observation haki, it showed dimensional energy sources very clearly. 'This ability also lets me detect attacks made by dimensional energy. If I can keep it active all the time, I won't need to worry about surprises from dimensional creatures.'
He continued training until he finally went to bed.
The next morning, Liam was woken by a knock on his door. Dressing quickly, he opened it to see the Ancient One standing outside, smiling.
"It's time for another mission, young Liam. This one is more challenging," she announced.
"Higher difficulty? I can't handle that without risking exposure of magic's existence or endangering innocent people," he replied.
"Not all dimensional tears are in populated areas," she explained. "Some higher-dimensional beings place tears in hidden places far from civilization. Their goal is to weaken the barrier protecting our world, as these remote tears are harder to locate and eliminate."
"Where, exactly?" Liam asked.
"Places like Antarctica, the Sahara Desert, and other abandoned areas," she responded.
"So, which one am I being sent to?" Liam pressed.
"You'll be heading to Antarctica," she replied with a calm smile.
"And how am I supposed to find a tear in that area? I haven't mastered the Eldritch Sights spell yet." he asked.
"I'll open a portal to the general area. After that, it's up to you," she replied.
"When do I leave?" Liam inquired.
"Right now." With that, she opened a portal beneath him, sending him plummeting into the freezing snow.
Liam cursed as he landed in the cold, he got up on his feet again just as the portal closed. Instantly, he summoned Incursio so he didn't have to endure this cold. 'Curse that woman,' he thought as he activated Eldritch Sight, but no energy signatures were in his detection range.
He started walking through the snow, and it didn't take long before he picked up a faint energy signal in the distance.
'Atleast she was slightly humane by putting me close.' He thought, having no idea about what he would be fighting.
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