"So the reason to learn your current forms is to learn your future forms. The reason to learn your future forms is to learn the ones that come after. And the reason to do it all is to drive Surt away.

"And the reason to seek perfection in your current forms, then, must be because they will somehow help you defeat Surt. But if they are already perfect enough, if your instructor is telling you that you should move on..."

Okay see this is kind of disconcerting now and she's not sure how to respond.

...he starts laughing. "You think, 'Fist Joo Tae-seo is not trying to fight Surt, I am. My instructors are not trying to fight Surt, I am. I may be perfect enough for what Fist Joo Tae-seo has in mind but if that were enough then Surt would no longer be here.' Is that about it?"

She nods, a bit, trying not to feel too mortified. She knows that's a very arrogant thought, but...

"That may be so, but regardless of whether I want to defeat Surt or not, my footsteps are perfectly regular, and yours are not."

...oh.

"I see you understand, now. Do not focus on perfecting every single aspect of everything you do. Do not focus on perfection at all, except in service of your goal. In fact, seek to work as little as possible, while still reaching your goal. The necessary perfections will be achieved on your way there; you will know what to do next, not because it perfects you, but because it brings you closer to your goal."

"...you."

"Me!"

"Why are you here?"

"To see you."

".......why."

"Can't I just have missed a friend?"

"We're not friends."

"No? Who are your friends, then?"

"So do you wanna be my friend?"

She starts to walk past him. "I don't have time for this."

He blocks her way. "You don't? I thought you were done for the day."

She stops and glares at him. "Have you been following me?"

"No, I'm just guessing." He nods in the direction of the other monks leaving the practice yard right after her. "Is Georgina here?"

"Who."

"That girl who wanted to be a mage then changed her mind and decided to be an elemental monk instead."

"I don't know."

"No, I think she hadn't left the Academy by the time I did either so I'm not sure what happened to her. But I imagine it must've been quite a readjustment, at that point, to try to become a monk after spending so long preparing to be a mage."