Liam awoke feeling weightless and fresh, like he had slept upon a bed of clouds. When he opened his eyes and the feeling of weightlessness didn't vanish, he panicked for a moment before he remembered the events of yesterday and the extent of his injuries. He sat up and looked at the sky above the crevice he was trapped in. Night was coming to an end and the sun would come up soon, and with it he would move out.

He spent some time readjusting to the way he had to move now. Simple tasks that he had done everyday like walking took almost no effort and became pretty much automatic once he got started. However, it was things like swinging his axe that caused him trouble. He had always started using one yesterday and the muscle memory that his Skill helped to build was next to useless when it came to directing his body with his mind. He could still bring forth his explosive strength when it came to simple swings but any more complex manoeuvres ended up much clunkier than he would have liked. Still, he felt himself getting better with practice and he doubted he would need anything fancy against the undead he was soon to face, but he still put in the work getting used to moving his feet and weapon at the same time.

Soon, dawn arrived, and with it a sensation unlike any he had ever felt. His pool of Lifeforce, having run dry many times in the last day, drank in the first rays of sunlight eagerly. Steadily, it filled until it was full to bursting and wasn't able to accept any more. The Spirit of Death holding his body together condensed for a moment, and for that brief instant of time he could feel things again. The sun's warmth caressed skin and a cool breeze that had somehow made it down onto the cavern refreshed him.

He stood there for a few minutes, his mind light and free of the burdens of yesterday. He was at peace. But then, as the sun fully made its way out from below the horizon, his feeling of touch began to fade again. Gradually, lost awareness in each part of his body again until he was relying only on his Merged Spirit to stand.

It felt good to be at full capacity, but he knew it wouldn't last long. In fact, he planned on using some right away. With his newfound ability to use his bound [Spirit of Death] for free a number of times each day, the longevity of his Lifeforce Pool had been extended. This freed up some of it to be spent on a different Spirit, one that he had been keeping in trinket form until now. He took out his [Spirit of Protection (Partially Corrupted) Charm] and prepared to absorb it.

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The Charm had allowed him to take greater risks and push forwards on multiple occasions, but the Spirit inside had remained stuck at the same Level of power for too long. He simply hadn't had enough Lifeforce to spare towards activating it, but now that had changed. With a flex of his will, he brought up the prompt to absorb it and accepted it, watching as the Charm turned into a ball of grey light and enter his body. The level of [Fatigue] that had been his constant companion over the last day melted away and he felt an new presence settle within his inner pool. Looking inwards, he found it and brought up it's description once again to check if anything had changed since he had seen it used by Richard Montague.

[Spirit of Protection I (Partially Corrupted)

Path Power

Level 1/10

Continuous: Imbue your body with your bound [Spirit of Protection] to receive a shield equal to 10% of your HP that regenerates at 10% of the speed your HP does. This shield does not have any damage resistance.

Cost: 5 Lifeforce per day

Tier I: Grants Sleep and Fatigue Immunity

Partially Corrupted: On activation or refresh, inflict a stack of [Fatigue] on you that ignores immunities

Lifeforce to Cleanse: 1/75]

If he remembered correctly, its description was the same apart from the line at the bottom telling him how much Lifeforce was required for him to cleanse it of its corruption. It was a while off for him now, since his maximum capacity for the resource didn't even come close to the amount he needed to remove the debuff it would give him. Still, a single point had already been put towards cleansing it, which he assumed was the one he used to bind the Charm to him. If he was right then he wouldn't need to actively invest any of the limited resources into ridding the Spirit of its corruption, but instead any Lifeforce that passed through it would contribute towards it. This meant that as he used it, it would get closer towards that goal from just the daily investments he would need to make to keep it going.

He could test his theory right away, and that was what he intended to do. With a thought, his Lifeforce moved. It poured into his newly absorbed Spirit until it reached a tipping point. Energy exploded out of it, rushing out of his Inner Pool and spilling out of his body and freezing there until a layer of it covered him entirely. He couldn't see it with his eyes, but to the sense that allowed him to detect Lifeforce it was definitely there. Unfortunately, along with the shield, the feeling of lethargy from a level of [Fatigue] came back, settling into his bones. He felt the Stamina he'd regenerated above the new, reduced, maximum bleed away. He still had a lot in the tank, he knew, but mentally he felt like it would be more effort to do anything. The feeling faded as he began move since he couldn't register any tiredness due to his paralysis, but he still knew he would have to account for the debuff like he had been for the last day.

Wrapping his [Spirit of Protection] tighter around himself with [Spirit Shaping], he set off towards what he hoped was one of the last battles down here in the catacombs.