Just past the gates opened by the 4 dragon statues and the pressure plates, the path diverges; if you keep left you spiral upwards to reach Carlin, and sticking to the right leads down to Lovis.
In the dungeon with the ghost and abominations, you can get a skill book, and a stat point from mindreading the ghost.
When you lower the chains and are offered 4 obvious equipment choices, a skill book near the start is also lowered within reach. You can only take one item.
