So in playing Jade Empire, there is people who offer training. Usually this training provides a boost to one area at the expense of another. However, if one takes more than one of the training, the lose is more than offset by the gains.

Another thing I like doing is all the small quests, then I get more experience to level my character up. With the styles, what I like to do is have a main style then whatever points I don't use go into a another style that doesn't cost so much.