Fields of Despair

*A desolate haze, both entrapping and illuminating.*

## Summary

A peak-quality skill that Zac gained as one of his three level 25 skill quests for his Undying Bulwark class. He completed the quest with a single flashy entrance into a cavern chock full of rats during the Treasure Hunt. The skill creates a Miasmic domain that weakens enemies by ten percent and coverts corpses into Miasma that goes to the Undead that made the kill. The skill granted awareness of all those in the domain at F-Grade Late Proficiency further improved at Peak. When Zac evolved the skill to E-Grade during the Twilight Ascent, he improved the omniscience and weakened the miasma grant to other Undead. The domain can be destroyed by other domains and effects, particularly fire.

## Skill Quest

* Fields of Despair (Class): Draw the ire of at least 1,000 enemies at once. Reward: Fields of Despair (0/1). **Book 2, Page 702**
* He had imbued himself with the Dao of Heaviness, and he was like a ten-ton hammer when he landed, killing every rat within over ten meters and creating a large crater. The moment he had exited the passage, he had been inundated by a cacophony of screeches and hisses, and it got a lot worse after he made his entrance. Zac didn’t even have time to get to his feet before he received a surge of energy into his forehead, and he immediately understood that he had accomplished his goal. The quest for his second skill, **[Fields of Despair]**, was finished. It required him to draw the ire of over a thousand enemies simultaneously, and he had likely passed that goal ten times over with his flashy entrance. **Book 3, Page 173**

## Skill Location

**Forehead**

* *See above.*

## Skill Window

* [E] Fields of Despair - Proficiency: Early. A desolate haze, both entrapping and illuminating. Upgradeable. **Book 8, Page 368**
* [E] Fields of Despair - Proficiency: Late. A desolate haze, both entrapping and illuminating. [*sic*] **Chapter 898**

## **F-Grade**

### Early **Proficiency**

* It was as though the world had gone monochrome within fifty meters from his position ... In fact, he noticed that the Cosmic Energy around him was actually turning into Miasma at a visible rate, and a mist of the deathly energy swirled around him. However, the production came at a cost of his own energy, so the skill wouldn’t be very useful for cultivation. ... It was a debuffing skill with a large area, and its effect was pretty great. It lowered the attributes of his enemies ... he estimated the number to be around 10%. **Book 3, Page 174**
* As he had experimented for a bit with the skill, there lay a new slew of rat carcasses around him, and those that died first were starting to emit a turquoise mist. ... The energy effortlessly merged with his existing stores of Miasma, giving him back even more energy than he used when killing the rats. **Book 3, Page 175**
* Not only did it weaken those who came too close, it even restored his energies to allow him to keep fighting for an indefinite time. **Book 3, Page 175**
* He had initially expected that all the Miasma released from kills would go to him, but **[Fields of Despair]** actually provided the energy to the one who landed the killing blow. So the skill didn’t just weaken the enemies, but it also increased the endurance of the undead, allowing them to keep fighting. **Book 5, Page 116**

### Middle **Proficiency**

* **[Fields of Despair]**, **[Winds of Decay]** and even **[Profane Seal]** had reached Middle mastery from the intense battles [*closing all Underworld Incursions except Fire Golems*]. **Book 4, Page 316**
* Back when he upgraded the skill to middle proficiency the only thing that changed was that the skill's coverage more than doubled. **Book 5, Page 116**

### Late **Proficiency**

* Using skills as they were intended was the best way to increase their proficiency. Zac had managed to push **[Fields of Despair]** to Late proficiency after just a few fights, and the skill reaching Late proficiency actually benefitted him. **Book 5, Page 116**
* Upgrading it to Late proficiency had doubled the area once again, and by this point, it was able to cover almost a third of a battlefield this size. One more upgrade and he would probably be able to cover a square kilometer in Miasma. **Book 5, Page 116**
* He could actually feel the combatants within the mist now. The effect was nowhere near as comprehensive as the omniscience of **[Hatchetman’s Spirit]**, but it was more akin to having radar and sensing everyone in the mist like hazy blips. He wouldn’t be able to use the new feature to dodge attacks, but he would be a lot harder to sneak up on this way. Hiding within the Miasmic mists would be impossible without possessing some sort of counter. **Book 5, Page 116**

### Peak **Proficiency**

* The atmosphere took a drastic turn, and even the pervasive Twilight Energy was pushed away a bit. Obviously, it was the Peak-mastery **[Field of Despair**]. **Book 8, Page 164**
* Reaching late mastery in the skill had allowed him to gain a better sense of everyone within the mists, and this sense was even further improved by reaching peak mastery. The skill now expanded his observation abilities to the point that they almost rivaled the omniscience he gained from **[Hatchetman’s Spirit]**. **Book 8, Page 164**
* The weakening effect was strengthened further as well, now being able to fully remove up to 10% of the attributes up to the limits of E-grade Race, 2,500 attribute points. **Book 8, Page 164**
* The real reason for bringing out **[Fields of Despair]** was the improved conversion ratio, where each kill resulted in almost double the refund when corpses were drained. **Book 8, Page 164**

## Upgrading

* This time he meditated a full day before activating the array, and the fractal of **[Fields of Despair]** came to bare. The Peak-quality skills were more intricate compared to the High-quality of his old Hatchetman class, but this particular domain was one of three basic skills he’d gained at level 25. Its effect was great, but the patterns were nowhere near the complexity of **[Profane Seal]**. **Book 8, Page 368**
* Besides, some of the structures were surprisingly reminiscent of **[Hatchetman’s Rage]** and **[Forester’s Constitution]**. **Book 8, Page 368**
* Soon enough the process was complete, and a new skill fractal entered his body. **Book 8, Page 368**

## **E grade**

### Early **Proficiency**

* He’d given up some of the skill’s ability to provide Miasma to other undead warriors, and in turn, expanded the omniscience it provided from Peak mastery. Ideally, he would have done away with those parts meant for warfare entirely, but they were an integral part of the fractal. **Book 8, Page 368**

### Late **Proficiency**

* In fact, most of his skills were evolving, proving just how powerful the altar was. That was not to say it was all thanks to this temple. Many of his skills were long overdue for an upgrade, ... After having been through two tremendous epiphanies and getting blessed by the altar, they were all bursting forth at once. **Chapter 897**

### Peak **Proficiency**

* His spiritual domain was strong, but it didn't have the reach of his Peak-Mastery **[Fields of Despair]** ... **Chapter 1,005**

## D-Grade

### Upgrade

* Zac's first domain skill had seen some changes with its D-grade evolution, though its energy recovery and large-scale debuff were retained and strengthened. **Chapter 1,188**

### Early/Middle **Proficiency**

* Zac had ultimately given up on omniscience in favor of something more useful since he had Soul Sense to fill that function. Instead of strengthening his vision, **[Fields of Despair]** now lowered that of his enemies. The dense shroud acted like a confusion array, and the effect only grew stronger when adding his other domains. **Chapter 1,188**

## Synergy

* The Miasma from **[Fields of Despair]** congealed into five large towers [*of Profane Seal*] that formed a circle with Zac as the epicenter. **Book 4, Page 152**
* The Miasma inside Zac’s body surged as it kept dropping, only to increase again due to the continuous cycle formed between **[Deathwish]** and **[Fields of Despair]**. **Book 4, Page 308**
* The skill [*Undying Legion*] might have had a massive initial expenditure, but Zac was happy to see that there was no cost at all to maintaining the skill after the skeletons had formed. They kept hacking and slashing without Zac losing an iota of Miasma. It was actually the opposite, as his reserves kept getting filled thanks to **[Fields of Despair]**. **Book 5, Page 6**

## Commentary

* He also realized that the miasmic field that he’d generated with **[Fields of Despair]** was completely gone from the rat den, and not a smidgeon of Miasma remained in the atmosphere. It looked like the skill’s effects were temporary, meaning that he couldn’t use it to terraform his surroundings to become death-attuned. **Book 3, Page 199**
* Less than half his Miasma remained, as the returns from **[Fields of Despair]** couldn’t match the expenditure from constantly utilizing multiple skills. **Book 4, Page 115**
* He didn’t have any control over **[Fields of Despair]**, so he couldn’t figure out any means that might help him move to a higher mastery. **Book 4, Page 119**
* The battle quickly turned into the undead’s favor, and not just because Zac mowed through the army like a bulldozer. The two sides were almost equal in strength before his arrival, and the single addition of **[Fields of Despair]** had tipped the scales in the Revenants’ favor. **Book 5, Page 116**
* However, Zac didn’t enjoy that kind of energy boost, as [Fields of Despair] was completely countered by the all-consuming flames. **Book 5, Page 427**
* The werewolves tried to turn into motes of light to escape again, but their moonlight was completely overpowered by the combination of **[Winds of Decay]** and **[Fields of Despair]**. **Book 6, Page 691**
* **[Fields of Despair]** is a very sought-after skill among the crusaders, but few can gain it. **Book 8, Page 165**
* Zac’s **[Fields of Despair]** deactivated in just a second, unable to withstand the purifying effect of the treeman’s domain. **Book 8, Page 169**
* he shroud of **[Fields of Despair]** revealed over 100 cultists in his direct vicinity, three of whom were Hegemons. **Chapter 924**
* Zac doubted an E-grade skill could retain its full efficacy on Middle Hegemons wielding Dao Branches, but he'd already confirmed it could remove the full 10%, up to 2,500, on Early Hegemons. **Chapter 1,100**
* Its use had lessened slightly since he gained his Soul Sense, but it was still a fundamental skill that allowed him to nudge any battle in his favor. **Chapter 1,100**
* However, the combination of **[Fields of Despair]** and his Cosmic Core's **[Warstone]** was almost like having a second energy battery. **Chapter 1,188**