Immediately, several obscenely expensive abilities appeared before me.
[Vasto Lorde Physiology - 1,800,000 FP]
[Majin Buu's Physiology - 2,500,000 FP]
[True Dragon Physiology - 8,000,000 FP]
[Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Form - 150,000,000 FP]
'Little bit out of my budget, let's filter it down.'
After setting the search to only show abilities under 30,000 FP, some far more appropriate options were shown.
[Base Ghoul Physiology - 25,000 FP]
The stats would be good, as well as the bonus of a kagune, but it meant I'd have to eat human flesh, a no-go.
The option of a one-eyed ghoul did exist, but that was once again far above my price range.
I increased the filter, checking for any solid options within reach.
[Ackerman Bloodline - 40,000 FP]
That one made me stop.
The Ackerman bloodline was, put simply, the closest thing to a perfect passive physical enhancement I could think of. Superhuman strength, reflexes and speed, instinctive combat ability that bordered on precognition, and a passive battle awakening that unlocked the body's full potential in life-threatening situations.
Levi Ackerman was a badass who had cut down countless titans, though realistically, I probably wouldn't be at his level just because I had the bloodline.
But forty thousand was significantly more than what I currently had, so I reluctantly scrolled past it.
[Garou's Adaptation - 106,000 FP]
The body instinctively learns from every encounter, automatically developing counters to attacks it has experienced. Continuous passive growth through conflict.
Reading the ability description, this also seemed impressive, albeit slightly vague. From my memory, Garou was being boosted up by God, so my growth rate, even with that ability, would probably be nowhere near his.
Regardless, I wanted something instant that I would be able to use immediately without having to do any kind of training.
Finally, after going through hundreds of abilities, I found one just within my price range.
[Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse) - 26,000 FP]
I stared at it for a moment.
Kimimaro's kekkei genkai. The ability to manipulate one's own skeletal structure, accelerating bone growth, reshaping and hardening bones, and ejecting them as weapons at will. In the series, his bones had tanked direct hits from Lee's taijutsu and Gaara's sand without so much as cracking.
It wasn't a passive improvement, but it was the closest thing to a passive defence that I could actually afford. Mixed with the Sharingan's enhanced reflexes, the moment someone tried to land a hit on me, I could impale them with protruding bones.
Or, if it were a ranged attack, I could simply harden my bones to the strength of steel, essentially making me bulletproof.
It would probably take a decent amount of training to reach that level, but I felt like this ability would do the trick.
And anyway, this also meant that I could take my bones out and attack people with them, a scarily gruesome ability. It was definitely an ability capable of creating fear, to say the least.
Without hesitation, I bought the ability.
The effect was immediate, though not in the way I expected.
It wasn't pain exactly. More like an intense, all-encompassing pressure that radiated outward from somewhere deep inside my skeleton, as if my bones had suddenly become aware of themselves.
I sat very still in the driver's seat for a moment.
'Okay. Let's start small.'
I held out my right hand and focused.
The first attempt produced nothing. The second attempt produced a deeply unsettling crackling sound from somewhere inside my forearm that made me wonder if I had fucked up somehow.
Then, on the third attempt, the tip of my index finger split open.
A bone spike, roughly two centimetres long, pushed through the skin with a sensation I had absolutely no reference point for. It wasn't painful, that was for sure, but it was still an unpleasant sensation which made my eye twitch. Hopefully, something I'd get used to in time.
"...Hm."
I stared at it.
The skin around it had parted cleanly, almost surgically, leaving traces of a white liquid, presumably blood. The bone itself was stark white and perfectly smooth, gleaming faintly under the car's interior light.
I focused again.
It retracted.
The skin closed back over it within seconds, leaving nothing but a faint red mark that faded as I watched.
'So I get regeneration as well?'
That was arguably more useful than the bones themselves.
I wasn't sure how flexible the regeneration was; perhaps it only worked when retracting bones, but even so, any kind of regeneration was useful.
I tried again, this time along my entire forearm. Four spikes emerged in sequence up the length of it, each one larger than the last.
Then my whole arm.
Then I made the mistake of trying my spine.
"Fuck!"
I gripped the steering wheel with both hands and breathed through my nose for a long moment, the protrusions along my back scraping audibly against the car seat.
After several seconds of dignified composure, I retracted everything and sat in silence.
I looked at my hand again, then slowly pushed a single bone spike out from my knuckle, holding it there, examining it in the low light.
"Well, it's not at the level of Kimimaro, but.. yeah, this is pretty damn good."
To be honest, it wasn't like my schedule was very busy.
I uh... I had no friends, or any commitments for that matter, so I had plenty of time to increase my proficiency.
I continued my drive back to New York whilst simultaneously fiddling with my portruding bones.