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“One thing you must understand immediately,” Gohvis had told her, “is that meditation is more important for us than any other servant class. By far. Especially in the beginning. I believe this is the main reason why, historically, we have suffered so greatly. We and our accompanying reapers have vastly underestimated how much meditation is required for us to achieve stability with our power.”

And indeed, ever since then, meditation had become the largest part of her daily routine. When she wasn’t reading, eating, or sleeping, she was most likely meditating--and she hadn't been eating or sleeping that much.

More recently, she had reached a point where Gohvis finally allowed her to reduce her meditation hours by a small margin, which was why she had time to explore the Library more and talk to the Monster’s followers, but it wasn’t just increasing the amount of meditating that had been important. She had also needed to change how she meditated.

“How familiar are you with the concept of altered states of consciousness?” Gohvis had asked her.

“Um, not very?”

“Then it is time to learn.”

The Monster went on to explain that the primary purpose of meditation for mutation users was to enter into a different state of consciousness so that they could achieve more meticulous management over their own bodies.

Supposedly, there were multiple states that she would eventually be learning, but the first and apparently most important one that Gohvis had taught her was what he had dubbed a “storage” state.

“--or Sto, for short,” he’d explained. “Naming them is helpful for codifying them in your mind over time. It makes them easier to reenter, which speeds up the meditation process.”

The purpose of Sto, she had learned, was to create a space in her mind where she could “store” the problematic buildup of her mutation power. If mutation was like a leaky roof, then Sto was like a bucket in which to catch the dripping water.