Chapter 19: Rune Tattoo
CH19: Rune Tattoo
***
Before his reincarnation, one of the major projects True_Sage had been developing was something known as the Smart Tattoo Project—or Smart-Tat, as the team affectionately called it.
His homeland's military had issued a call for next-generation embedded technologies that could redefine the battlefield of information warfare—particularly in espionage, data security, and decentralised communication.
Numerous concepts were pitched to the brass at the Department of Defence.
One idea proposed a tattoo embedded with a proprietary barcode or QR code pattern. When scanned by a specialised device, the pattern would trigger access to a remote databank—hosted either on a private server or cloud storage system. Simple. Secure. But... underwhelming.
Another approach involved implanting a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip just beneath the skin—usually in soft tissue like the forearm or shoulder. A tattoo would then be inked over the site—serving purely as camouflage or a visual marker. Data could then be accessed with a compatible NFC reader or smartphone. Functional, yes—but lacking flair.
Alex's design team, however, wasn't satisfied with the safe route. They were tech visionaries—and unapologetic anime nerds. Inspired by the Ancestral and Totemic Tattoos often seen on orcs and barbarians in their favourite games and comics, they asked a simple question:
What if the tattoo wasn't just a key to power... but power itself?
Their proposed system involved tattoo ink laced with nanotech—specifically, nanochips capable of storing and processing data. The ink mixture also included conductive materials like graphene, which formed functional circuits within the skin.
The result? A living circuit—one that turned skin into an active electronic interface.