Grim Deck Chapter 22: Gion Tattoos & Ink Craft

The first step in Grimlock’s basic survival combat training was learning how to form Gion Tattoos using Gion Ink and Gion Points.

A Gion tattoo was not ornantal. It was a functional pattern inscribed onto the skin with Gion Ink, carefully connecting specific Gion Points along the body’s internal Gion Circuits. Through precise configuration, the tattoo could form a seal, a spell construct, a curse matrix, a formation array, or a hybrid design tailored to the user’s needs.

When executed correctly, a Gion tattoo operates as an auxiliary Gion circuit, reinforcing or redirecting the body’s existing flow. This discipline of creating Gion tattoos was known as Ink craft.

Ink craft demanded anatomical accuracy, gionic stability, and ntal precision. A single misplaced Gion Point could distort the flow and destabilize the entire structure. At best, the tattoo would fail to activate. At worst, it could backfire, rupturing the user’s Gion Points and damaging their internal circuits.

For beginners, the training was brutal in its simplicity. They were required to morize their own Gion Points, chart their internal pathways, and practice forming temporary patterns that faded within hours. With sufficient repetition, they could switch between Gion Tattoos at will.

In combat, a well-designed Gion Tattoo could an the difference between reacting decisively and hesitating at a critical mont.

Ink Craft was also a good segway into Card Craft. The sa Gion Ink used to inscribe patterns across the skin could be used to engrave seals, spells, curses, and formation arrays onto empty cards within a Grim Deck. Through this process, Grimlocks created spell cards, trap cards, summon cards, artifact cards, and countless specialized variants.

The governing principle remained the sa for ‌both practices except for the dium changed.

Unlike tattooing one’s own body, engraving a Grim card did not require mapping personal Gion points or stabilizing internal circuits. The card itself served as the structured frawork.

Where skin demanded anatomical precision to prevent backlash, a card demanded structural clarity to prevent collapse. A flawed Gion tattoo could rupture the user’s internal Gion circuit. A flawed engraving would simply fail or, at worst, combust the card.

Gion ink was a mixture of the user’s blood and Gion microbio, saturated with concentrated Gion. Once prepared, it carried both biological compatibility and gionic conductivity. When applied to skin, it ford an external Gion circuit linking Gion points. When applied to a card, it established an independent Gion circuit contained within the card’s structure.

In either case, Gion Ink was not re pignt. It was a living conduit, allowing the user to direct Gion in a precise and controlled configuration, using one’s skin or card as a dium.

With the help of the Dream Engine grim cypher and my Gion Circuit card, mapping and morizing my Gion Points and internal circuits was not difficult. Thanks to the Dream Domain’s ti dilation, I accomplished it in less than a second in real ti.

The next step was morizing and mastering Gion Tattoos.

Every Gion Tattoo was constructed from established fraworks—seals, skill matrices, combat arts, formation arrays, etc. I had to morize each pattern exactly as designed.

That required more than recalling its shape. I had to understand its flow: where the Gion entered, where it converged, where it compressed, and where it was released. So tattoos amplified physical strength. Others reinforced ntal defenses. So acted as preloaded spells, triggering upon impact or when specific conditions were t.

Unlike card engravings, where a flawed inscription rely damages card durability, mistakes made on skin carried imdiate consequences. A structural error could disrupt Gion flow, destabilize the circuit, and in combat, that instability could be fatal.

Therefore, many Grimlocks—even those equipped with mory-enhancing cards like Engram Enhancer—limit themselves to mastering one or two Gion tattoos over their entire lifeti.

The reason was simple. Mastering a Gion tattoo to the point where one could deploy and maintain it instinctively in a high-tension situation like combat could not be achieved through morization alone.

During battle, the user had to actively sustain the tattoo while adjusting it to fit dynamic situation. That increased the cognitive load and shortened the transition ti between Gion tattoo configurations, which raised the risk of misalignnt under pressure. This was not sothing morization alone could solve.

Only through experience could one learn to use a Gion Tattoo fluidly in combat. Muscle mory, situational judgnt, and Gion control had to align. Anything less would result in hesitation or silly mistake, which could prove fatal in combat.

So most Grimlocks follow a principle often repeated in training gyms: fear not the one who has practiced ten thousand Gion tattoos once, but the one who has practiced a single Gion tattoo ten thousand tis.

A Grimlock who has engraved the sa tattoo across their skin for years knows exactly how much Gion to feed it, how it reacts under strain, how to adjust when disrupted, how to use it dynamically in high-risk situations like combat. Their execution becos faster than thought. Such versatility and speed couldn’t be achieved by just superior mory.

There were countless Gion tattoos to choose from, depending on the type of Grim deck one intended to build. For most Grimlocks, the deck still remained their primary strength, so their tattoos were selected to complent that strategy.

Another option was to keep things simple and focus on body-reinforcent Gion tattoos. These strengthened the physical form directly, allowing the user to wield their own body as a combat artifact. For survival and close-quarters combat, this approach was highly effective.

The drawback was prolonged reinforcent placed imnse stress and strain on the physical body, especially the gion points. After all, Grimlocks were still fundantally human that possessed a Gioncore and a Grim deck.

I, however, possessed an ultimate undying body thanks to my Gioncore. To take advantage of that, I chose the reinforcent route as well. I had no interest in becoming a Grimlock who stood in place and overwheld opponents by spamming powerful cards like an immobile siege turret. I wanted mobility, adaptability, and control over the battlefield, regardless of the tarrain. That was only possible by relying on my body as a primary weapon, it would also give greater flexibility when constructing my Grim Deck, freeing it for utility and specialization rather than brute force.