Saryn stood still in the middle of the beating ritual circle, readying himself in preparation for the ritual he was about to begin.
'According to the memories, this is the ritual for tier one semblance, hydroform, lets get this over with.'
He tilted his head, looking at the "spare" materials. They weren't exactly spares, they were the materials used for the creation of tier one hydroform. There was a variety of materials, one of them included the scales of some sort of sea creature?
'Forget it, all of these materials look odd, and I doubt Marduk would tell me their origins.'
Saryn sighed, before gathering the materials, sorting them into groups and arranging them evenly around him.
Seven groups, seven types of materials. All of which were suspended in the air around him as he sat cross-legged at the center, he attempted to recall the memories of the previous individuals who executed this ritual.
Memories flashed past.
Dozens of hands stirring about, performing the same ritual. Dozens of failures, dozens of successes. His body twitched as he forced the memories into his muscles.
Saryn inhaled deeply, before exhaling a sharp breath, calming his nerves.
'Let's begin.'
He injected his will and echoes into the circle, causing it to shine with greater intensity than before. The suspended materials being used for the semblance soared upwards, while the ones used to construct the ritual circle steadied themselves perfectly still in the air.
Regardless, all of the materials shined brightly, mirroring the powerful heartbeat of the actual circle. Saryn opened his eyes, looking closely around him.
He saw the echoes being attracted to him, a mixture of cyan and blue gathered around him, both colours negated each other, but Saryn's goal wasn't quantity, it was balance.
The circle raged.
The materials closest to Saryn, used for the semblance, caught on fire, but this was intentional.
Blue flames completely consumed the materials, steadily ridding them of their echoes, and all of the echoes extracted from the materials, whether blue or cyan, floated toward Saryn slowly.
He looked down at his left forearm, where a black tattoo gradually formed, and inside of it, he spotted the intense battle between cyan and blue echoes.
'This isn't good.'
The echoes were imbalanced, there were more cyan echoes than blue echoes.
A memory flickered - someone screaming as their arm twisted unnaturally, the ritual collapsing around them.
The longer he stared, the more the worry clawed at him. Saryn snapped out of his daze, scanning the memories for what he could do to treat the imbalance.
But there was nothing.
'Tch.'
He gritted his teeth; all of the previous candidates who failed the first ritual hadn't gotten away without injuries which impeded them on the next floor. He must succeed here.
Improvising, Saryn focused on his aching forearm, bringing his other hand above it. He ignored the sharp ringing in his head caused by the imbalance.
'I don't have long, please work!'
He inwardly pleaded, as he attempted to gather the cyan echoes tightly together in his forearm, while allowing the blue echoes to move freely.
Echoes of the same colour attract one another, by packing them tightly, Saryn would effectively be reducing the surface area being exposed by the cyan echoes, which would hopefully reduce their attraction to other cyan echoes, ultimately letting the blue echoes attract other blue echoes quicker than the cyan echoes.
As a result of his action, the ritual slowed, the blue flames on the materials slightly dimmed, and the circle powered down by a bit, setting back his progress.
'That's fine, this is a more desirable position than the last.'
He thought, before collapsing his construct of cyan echoes, and allowing them to flow naturally. The two colours were in perfect balance now, and he could proceed as usual.
"Impressive, Saryn, your intuition is not to be looked down upon." Marduk's sinister voice entered one of Saryn's ears, and left right out the other, he could not let these words disrupt his current actions even the slightest bit.
'It worked! Good, now don't slip up again.'
Saryn didn't know the explanation behind why balance needed to be achieved in order to succeed, or rather why an imbalance could cause failure and injury, but judging from the memories he's been bestowed, it seems to be a natural law of the world, and thus he worked desperately to follow.
Saryn felt his mind clear like never before, in the midst of the pure balance of echoes around him, he felt his instincts sharpen and focus. It was a total contrast to when he had newly awakened here, and in fact he wondered.
'Was the reason behind my aches, weakness and loss of focus the lack of echoes around me?'
'Perhaps echoes empower me, no wonder I felt so revitalized after consuming the batch in the lantern.'
Saryn could feel that he was onto something here, he was definitely correct.
'Nevermind, focus on the task at hand.'
He retreated from his thoughts, and moments later, the semblance materials had completely burnt up, the flames extinguished, as the tattoo on his left forearm had completely formed. For a brief moment, Saryn felt a sharp searing pain pierce the area due to the compactness of echoes, causing him to grit his teeth.
The tattoo was small, about the size of a coin, located on the back of his forearm, next to his elbow, and it looked to be a water droplet surrounded in intricate patterns.
'I've succeeded, finally. This is the tier one semblance, hydroform.'
He grinned slightly, before activating the semblance, causing it to glow an ice blue before his left hand was coated in a layer of water.
Semblances aren't flashy moves, nor a specific execution.
They are markings that carry a set of instructions, upon activation, blue echoes are pulled into the semblance, causing it to react, and the set of instructions that is the semblance shapes the echoes into a process that is executed shortly after.
In this case, the semblance named hydroform, uses blue echoes to mold them into the form of water, which coats any body part that Saryn wills it to.
The circle around Saryn powered down with a low hum, running out of Saryn's will.
He stared at his fist in pride, before cackling sinisterly, repeating himself.
"I have succeeded!"