First, he opened the notifications he had gained during the fight, hopes of another Level Up dashed when he saw that he only had the 2 he got well before slaying the [Ghoul].
[Hafted I had improved to Hafted II
You may now use the Tier 2 effects of One Handed Hafted Weapons and gain muscle memory and learning with Hafted Weapons faster than before]
[New Skill Learned
Ambidexterity I]
The improvement to his Hafted Skill would provide benefits that he would feel later down the line. The System being able to improve how fast he learned things was downright frightening in its implications but he forced himself to ignore them in favor of how it would help his chances of survival. Moving on, he focused and brought up the description for his new Skill.
[Ambidexterity I
Combat Skill
Grants enhanced muscle memory and learning with using your offhand for weapons you are already skilled with. This scales with Tier. Grows through use.
Tier I: Can utilise the Tier I effects of Weapons you have the Tier I or better Skill for in your Offhand]
He had likely gained it from fighting left handed against Richard Montague, and he wasn't going to complain about anything that helped him out. Still, this explained why he had picked up fighting with his offhand relatively quickly. He was still nowhere near as good as using his main hand, but it was a major improvement over the clumsiness he had started with.
An arrow thudded into the corpse he was holding up with one arm and his shoulders, and he was reminded he didn't have too much time so he moved on. He looked down at the two trinkets that had formed when he re-killed the [Ghoul]. One was a small, half silver, half black, shield that he guessed was what it used earlier against him, whilst the other was a tiny, opal black, figurine of a featureless human meditating. He crossed his fingers with the bit of feeling he had regained in his right arm and used [Analyse] on the first one.
[Spirit of Protection Charm (Partially Corrupted)
Tier 2 Bound Accessory (Unbound)
Spirit Lore II: This item contains a Spirit of Protection liberated from the possession of a Corrupted Pathwalker in combat. It may either be worn to provide it's effects or absorbed by someone on the [Path of the Spirits] to bind the Spirit and gain it's Power. The Spirit is Partially Corrupted and requires Lifeforce to be cleaned. This Lifeforce may either be channelled into this Charm or used by the Spirit to activate its Power if absorbed.
Undead Lore I: This item may be used to raise a powerful undead with spirit bound to its soul. However, doing so would draw the ire of the natural world and the hostility of any spirits you encounter.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Lifeforce to remove corruption: 0/75
Tier I: You receive a shield equal to 10% of your HP that recovers at 10% of the speed your HP does
Tier 2: You gain 50% resistance to [Sleep] and [Fatigue] not caused by this Spirit
Partially Corrupted: You suffer from an irremovable stack of [Fatigue] whilst bound to this item.]
Seeing it for the second time, he [Analyzed] [Fatigue], hoping that it wasn't too bad and he could justify binding it.
[Fatigue
Reduce Stamina Regeneration and Maximum by 10% per stack]
His Stamina had consistently been a problem during his entire time in the catacombs. It was used so quickly during fights that the recovery couldn't keep up, even with rest breaks. To slow down it's regeneration would severely impact him, but still his eyes were drawn to what it would provide him. He was probably risking [Fatigue] anyway due to the exertion he had been putting himself through that was much more intense than his mostly sedentary lifestyle before this. Sure he had gone to the gym a few times a week, and went on the occasional walk, but neither of those things matched up to how fast a battle of life and death drained the energy out of you. Resistance to that would hopefully limit him to just the one stack from the Charm, and the ability to resist sleep would help him out massively if he was going to make the best use of his time before he was forced to confront Ander Phyris and stop his dark ritual in a bit under 2 days.
The shield it provided would also, quite literally, be a lifesaver. Right now he had healed more HP from increasing his Vitality than he had from regaining it naturally. He couldn't just keep investing in the Attribute or his Damage and other aspects would fall behind what he was fighting. He was lucky that undead seemed to have much lower base stats and intelligence (the brains, not the Attribute) than [Humans], but his advantage would narrow as he got to higher Levels and the percentage difference between them closed. To maintain his lead, he needed to spread his stat points around so that he would continue eclipsing them in every area but their speciality and could have more options open for adjusting his strategy against enemies. Unfortunately, absorbing it wasn't an option since he had seen how much it cost to use, and he couldn't afford to pay that right now, with only 4 of his 10 Lifeforce remaining.
In the end, it came down to math. The shield of the Accessory would be equivalent to another 2 points in Vitality, whilst the debuff from [Fatigue] would be like loosing 1.3 Endurance. Already he would be coming out slightly ahead if he bound the item, and that was before taking into account the resistances that it afforded him. Unfortunately, he had no idea how to bind a Charm since the last one had already been bound to him by the Challenge he fought, so he turned to the only being he knew that could give him an answer, one that he had been ignoring for a while now. He looked towards the black smoke that was still pouring out of his body, though it was nearing the end of its duration, and spoke.
"Spirit, how do I bind these Charms?"
Liam commanded an answer. He wanted to avoid speaking to the treacherous thing as much as possible and so went for a direct method of communication. Its way of making him lower his guard before it pounced brought up too many bad memories for him and he was thoroughly displeased with the being. Still, he would have to be an idiot to not use everything at his disposal in a situation like the one he had found himself in.
"So now you acknowledge me?"
Came it's whisper. When Liam didn't reply to that, it continued.
"I shall teach you this to help in your quest against the Undead, but do not think that you command me when you bound me in my diminished state of injury."
Liam continued ignoring it, having judged that it would already tell him what he needed to know without anymore words on his part. He stayed silent all the way through the explanation and begun acting upon the new information as soon as it was done.
He reached into his pool of Lifeforce and grabbed a hold of a part of it. It wasn't too different from what he had been doing to activate his [Spirit of Death] so it only caused him a bit of difficulty before he got the hang of it. Next, he pulled it from the reservoir and into his physical body, feeling a burning sensation where it came out just below his naval.
He mentally wrestled with it, clamping down firmly upon it with his will before dragging it up to his chest where the Charm was. So far it had been relatively docile, only producing a burning sensation wherever it passed, however getting it to leave his body was another story entirely. Not only did it seem to have a natural rejection to leaving his body, it also exuded a sense of revulsion towards the environment and the Charm he was attempting to bind. The corruption was anthama to it, but that wasn't Liam's problem to care about. He needed this to work, he needed the boost that came with binding it. And so he pushed with his will, leaning on the energy with his full desire to not only survive, but thrive in this new reality. It fought against him, but his desire was unrelenting whilst it's resistance faded with every passing moment. Finally, something gave and it flooded out of him and into the Charm. A notification appeared in the corner of his vision and he opened it.
[Would you like to bind the Spirit of Protection Charm (Partially Corrupted)?]
[Yes/No]
He mentally selected [Yes] and his soul began to burn.