Profane Seal

*Epigraph Unknown.*

## Summary

Profane Seal is a peak-quality skill that Zac gained as as his level 60 branching skill quest for his Undying Bulwark class. It allows the user to teleport a short distance towards their target, then form a variable size cage of 5 azure fractal towers around the user and target. There must be enough space for the towers to appear for the skill to work. These towers will attack those other than the user inside with spectral chains which restrain and pierce opponents and drain them of their life force to empower Zac with Miasma. Anyone caught within the seal is stuck until they destroy the towers, otherwise a barrier will appear to stop them leaving. The skill has a long cooldown.

Zac could not imbue the Dao into the skill until he gained an appropriate Dao Fragment, Seeds did not work. The skill only added five chains at middle and another five at late mastery through new elements of the cage. But at peak, instead additional chains, instead both the cage and the chains became stronger.

Profane Seal was manually evolved to Pillar of Desolation during the Twilight Ascent while under the inspiration of a Supreme Natural Treasure.

## Skill Quest

* Profane Dominance (Class): Kill 1,000 Peak F-grade beings within 3 hours OR Defeat 1 being at least 30 levels above you. Reward: [Profane Discharge] OR [Profane Seal]. (0/1,000 – 0/1) **Book 4, Page 124**
* There was a simple reason he chose to go for **[Profane Seal]**. ... The choices he made would perhaps affect what class choices he would get when upgrading his class, ... He would no doubt try to get a more offensive class when evolving, one that fit better with his personality and set of Dao insights. ... Perhaps it would be possible to get one class that excelled at large-scale battles, and another that would allow him to fight powerhouses and survive. That was at least the goal of Zac. **Book 4, Page 126**
* He sensed the impartment of a new fractal on his body, but he was in no state to look into it at the moment. **Book 4, Page 146**

## Early Proficiency

* It was comprised of two parts. The first part was a short-distance teleportation [*triggered by stomping*], allowing him to move even faster than when using [Loamwalker]. **Book 4, Page 159**
* If Zac wanted to, the skill could be ended at that point, meaning it would only act as a movement skill. But there were limits to that, since the skill seemed to have a cooldown. **Book 4, Page 160**
* The second half of the skill was the cage he’d just dissolved. **Book 4, Page 160**
* Zac could create a sealed space the size of which he could control to a certain degree. The only way to get out was to either destroy the towers through brute force or to kill Zac. **Book 4, Page 160**
* ... each tower shot out a ghastly chain that moved like a lightning bolt to converge at the same spot. **Book 4, Page 152**

## Middle Proficiency

* **[Fields of Despair]**, **[Winds of Decay]** and even **[Profane Seal]** had reached Middle mastery from the intense battles. **Book 4, Page 316**
* The five sinister towers had gotten an addition of five gates that were placed in the gaps between the towers themselves. **Book 4, Page 368**
* Zac couldn’t figure out any purpose of the gates apart from the fact that he sensed he was able to open and close them at will. **Book 4, Page 368**
* On top of the gates, the same types of azure fractals as the ones on top of the towers hovered, each of them summoning another spectral chain. **Book 4, Page 368**
* Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to be much stronger since he’d upgraded the skill, ... **Book 4, Page 369**
* The only unfortunate aspect of the skill was that he wasn’t able to infuse it with a Dao, which caused the chains’ effect on strong opponents to be pretty limited. **Book 4, Page 372**
* He didn’t imbue the mists with the Dao of the Coffin though, but he had rather chosen to imbue **[Profane Seal]** with it. **Book 4, Page 117**

## Late Proficiency

* Finally succeeding in upgrading **[Profane Seal]** during his climb was one of Zac’s greatest gains while climbing the seventh floor. The upgrade added five more chains that extended from the top of five massive tombstones that had been added to the cage, and they would be sorely needed to catch the slippery assassin. **Book 5, Page 178**
* The additional chains weren’t the only benefit from the skill evolving. Dense scripts lit up with a cold aquamarine luster on top of the huge tombstones, and they formed a large fractal in the air that covered the entirety of the cage. It was a restrictive array, somewhat akin to the gravity array of the Zethaya Pill House. **Book 5, Page 178**

## Peak Proficiency

* He had already noticed that **[Immutable Bulwark]** and **[Profane Seal]** reached Peak mastery right after the battle, and one skill after another took a step forward over the following hours. **Book 7, Page 358**
* This was the first time Zac had activated the skill since it reached Peak mastery, and the difference was obvious. A proper wall had finally been added to the towers and the gates, and the skill now essentially formed a proper fortress to trap anyone inside. The defensive properties had also been increased to a whole new level, which was exactly what Zac currently needed. **Book 7, Page 400**
* For the first time, there were no new chains added when the skill upgraded, but the ones that were already there had been empowered. They now looked a lot more corporeal compared to before, like they wouldn’t instantly melt when put close to flames or other powerful forces. **Book 7, Page 401**

## Upgrading

* He was about to set out with a massive bounty on his head, and he needed the ability to trap others, making sure his location wasn’t exposed. He needed to upgrade **[Profane Seal]** even if there was a risk of it being downgraded to a lower-quality skill. **Book 8, Page 490**
* [E] Pillar of Desolation – Proficiency: Early. Stuck and struggling. Inexorable desolation. Upgradeable. **Book 8, Page 497**

## **Synergy**

* But any attack against the towers would be met with the retaliation of [Deathwish], meaning the cage protected itself from attacks. **Book 4, Page 160**
* Secondly, it [*Fragment of the Coffin*] empowered the chains immensely. **Book 5, Page 117**

## Commentary

* The Miasma from [**Fields of Despair]** congealed into five large towers that formed a circle with Zac as the epicenter. On the top of each tower, an azure fractal shone like a cursed lighthouse, and hazy fractals ran along the length of the spires. The towers weren’t truly corporeal like the hand that Zac summoned with **[Nature’s Punishment]**, but they were much more real than the specters from **[Deathwish]**. They were slightly reminiscent of the Unholy Beacons, but they emitted a far more arcane aura, as though they had been summoned from the true underworld. **Book 4, Page 152**
* The Technocrat desperately tried to break the chains with all his might, but it was like they were wrought from divine iron and didn’t budge the slightest. A bracer on the alien’s arm even shot out two radiant beams at the restraints, but it only left a small mark. **Book 4, Page 153**
* Keeping the towers around did drain a decent amount of Miasma, but there was a good reason for keeping it. **Book 4, Page 158**
* The destruction of the tower was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and **[Profane Seal]** started to crumble. **Book 4, Page 209**
* He’d captured a good hundred elites along with the leader and two of his generals within [**Profane Seal]**, **Book 4, Page 310**
* A few of the warriors survived having their torsos penetrated by the spectral chains, and wails and screams of fear started to echo in the area as the chains ruthlessly started to drain them of their life force. **Book 4, Page 369**
* The Seal itself wasn’t that strong on the offense however, as the chains only worked on weak cannon fodder. **Book 5, Page 10**
* It [*tree from Nature's Punishment*] was teeming with life force that the chains could steal and then feed to his Draugr form. **Book 5, Page 241**
* The shield of **[Profane Seal]** finally broke a few seconds later, and Zac received a strong backlash that made him groan in pain. **Book 5, Page 320**
* Besides, the restrictive array from **[Profane Seal]** didn’t only put pressure on the people inside, it also acted as a protection from outside interference. **Book 5, Page 425**
* However, he noted that the fit [*after evolving*] for **[Profane Seal]**, **[Deathwish]**, and **[Immutable]** [*sic*] was just fine ... **Book 5, Page 527**
* He couldn’t combine **[Blighted Cut]** with skills like ... **[Profane Seal]** ... **Book 6, Page 188**
* The lava lake just outside the cage started to wear down the skill the moment it appeared, but Zac didn’t care about that as he ordered the twenty [*sic*] spectral chains to shoot toward his prey. **Book 6, Page 473**
* The cable connecting the werewolf’s tablet to the wall was ripped apart by the barrier of **[Profane Seal]** as well, effectively stopping his work. **Book 6, Page 576**
* He even tried to activate **[Profane Seal]** as a safety measure, but the room was unfortunately much too small for the skill to fit. **Book 7, Page 97**
* ... including one where he was forced to trap the attacker inside **[Profane Seal]** before using an escape talisman. **Book 8, Page 108**
* Cracks spread across the walls and towers of **[Profane Seal]**, where they slowly started to heal as there was no follow-up. **Book 8, Page 175**
* Besides, he still didn’t feel confident in evolving skills like **[Profane Seal]**, even if he had the liquid courage of the Dao Smoothies. Not only was it a finisher with many interlocking parts, which made the pattern far more complex compared to **[Indomitable]**, it also contained more than ten times the number of patterns to modify. **Book 8, Page 289**