>>96864155
After a moment, Ten Winds takes a sip of something that Karen doesn't know what is or where he got it from. Which is pretty much all his alcohol, really. He sets it back down, fiddles with the tiny umbrella, then speaks up.

"You may not be knowledgeable, but I'd wager you've heard many a story about it. Monks who train on top of mountains or under waterfalls, looking for enlightenment. Swordsmen who stood beneath trees to cut every falling leaf. Moments of extremity, for the purpose of bettering yourself."

The woman nods along, frowning softly. There's a brief pause as one of Costora's servants delivers a number of drinks and some simple food to the table, before vacating the premise rapidly. Ten takes a sip of his new drink before continuing.

"Normally, throughout this process, skill is acquired. With every swing of the blade, you're ever so slightly more competent than before. For Exalts, however, this isn't always true. Sometimes, we gain nothing from the first nine hundred and ninety nine swings, and it is only the one thousandth that gives us anything. And, sometimes, the thing we gain is totally unrelated to the task at hand. Those thousand sword swings might serve as the catalyst that causes us to grow more skilled at archery, for example."

"But", the woman stutters out in confusion. "That doesn't make any sense? How can practicing the sword make you better at archery? Those two things aren't connected at all!"

This time, it's Messier who speaks up.

"I turned off my ability to learn and grow. In the process of turning it back on, I basically spent a year and a half worth of study and self reflection in the span of about twenty seconds, which meant I learned almost everything about what was going on around me. Including the charms they were using."