Semblance

Through three tiers of meditation, Hunters can expect to think, act, and contend better than most in fighting Grimm and Marathon’s enemies. "Meditating" into these Tiers, however, is not only incredibly dangerous for your body, but also your mind. The odds are not as great as you go further along.

 While Tier 1 is universally a buff to physical strength, Tier 2 and 3 will vary with each Hunter. “Breaking the Shell” is required to graduate from the Church, while “Freeing the Mind” is only sought by a small few at the church who are ambitious enough to risk death. No student has ever tried “Becoming the Self” while at Beacon — to their instructors and their parents, it might as well be suicide.
 * Tier One is known as “Breaking the Shell”, and it typically requires the Hunter to undergo a significant amount of physical trauma or stress. The ideal result of this process, however, the Church institutes it, is an enhancement of hunter' physical abilities, including but not limited to regeneration. There is a slim chance the Hunter will only break their body in the process and not achieve a Tier One awakening — survival rates are 80%.
 * Tier Two is called “Freeing the Mind”, and Hunters typically achieve this tier by undergoing an extreme amount of mental stress or trauma. If the applicant agrees to it, the Church tends to investigate the “self” via interviews and tests to better determine what is required to “free” the mind. Although Hunters who achieve Tier Two awakening can expect faster reflexes and better judgment, they also run the risk of losing their mind — survival rates are 30%.
 * Tier Three is the rarest and most dangerous tier to achieve; “Becoming the Self” is a direct test of one’s Aura, and is only ever attempted by older Hunters who have long since graduated Beacon. The survival rate is 4%, and only a handful of Hunters today have successfully passed it. Those that do not only become the most powerful a Hunter can be, but they also receive the mythical “silver eyes”. The circumstances of this test vary with each person, but the general idea is the same.

Silver eyes
Silver Eyes are created from this semblance awakening; when Atlas was pressed to defend their borders, they drilled civilians into becoming Tier Three Hunters, although the terminology was certainly different at the time. Thousands of abducted peasants — their loved ones tricked under the guise that Grimm were taking their children in the night — were conditioned to becoming inhuman warriors capable of fighting back the creatures en masse. The survival rates were not encouraging.

Silver Eyes themselves don’t grant any special powers, but they are indicative of a long line of Hunters, or at least an ancestor who achieved Tier 3 awakening. This is why Ruby has the eyes; despite not being fervent followers of the Gaetri belief, her mother and grandmother achieved Tier 3. So everyone expects her to do the same. Tier 3’s effect is left intentionally vague. Its a measure of the “aura”, or soul, so whatever effect it has is typically what that person wants most.