Elegance Points in Where Winds Meet sit at an unusual crossroads of systems. They’re tied to outfit unlocks in the Appearance collection, and they also feed the broader Elegance attribute, an Aspiration stat that supports charisma-style exploration skills like disguises, persuasion, and “conviction” interactions with NPCs.
What Elegance affects (beyond cosmetics)
Elegance is an Aspiration Attribute used to unlock and strengthen exploration skills that lean social. Higher Elegance makes it easier to succeed with charisma-oriented interactions, including persuading NPCs and getting away with demands for information or items. If you’re aiming for late Exploration Mastery unlocks, Elegance is also one of the stats you’ll be pushed to raise alongside other Aspiration attributes.
Fastest ways to earn Elegance Points
The reliable loop is small and repeatable: interact with cats when you find them, and work through “Gourmet” food consumption from food stall vendors. Both are essentially exploration checklists disguised as ambient world flavor.
Method 1: Pet cats (Kitty Lover progress)
Petting cats awards Elegance. When you spot one, approach and use the interaction to pet it. Cats can be easier to notice by sound, and they’re also something you tend to pick up naturally while roaming dense areas like cities.
Method 2: Eat food from food stalls (Gourmet Challenge)
Food stalls sell bowls of local dishes, and consuming those foods is what advances the Gourmet-style Elegance gains. The key detail is that buying isn’t the same thing as eating. You need to purchase the dish, then consume it from your inventory.
There’s also a cadence to when the Elegance increases trigger for a given dish. The gains are tied to specific consumption milestones rather than every single bite indefinitely.
Step 1: Find a food stall vendor and buy a dish using Commerce Coins.
Step 2: Open your inventory and consume the dish you bought.
Step 3: Repeat consumption of that same dish to hit the milestone thresholds that award Elegance for that item.
Milestones commonly cited for a single food item are at 2, 4, and 8 uses. Another reported pattern is a total of 4 Elegance split across progress points, with 1 point early, another at 4 uses, and 2 more at 8 uses. In practice, players often stop at 8 per dish because further consumption stops producing Elegance gains for that item.
Food stall locations you can target
If you want to farm Gourmet progress deliberately, these are known food stall placements and the associated NPC names.
| Region | Location | NPC name |
|---|---|---|
| Qinghe Region Center, Heaven's Pier | Bridge near the Water Wheel | Yuan Tiantian |
| Qinghe Region Center, Heaven's Pier | Bridge near the Water Wheel | Yuan Xianxian |
| Qinghe Region West, Harvestfall Village | Village's Market | Yang Fengzi |
| Qinghe Region Northeast (Sundara Land), Finestead Hamlet | Northeast of the Boundary Stone | Li Daniang |
| Qinghe Region Southwest (Sundara Land), Mercyheart Town | Village's Town Center | Pan Mingrong |
| Kaifeng City, Ghostlight Market | Southeast of Boundary Stone | Hao Xian |
| Kaifeng City, Fairgrounds | Near Wrestling Arena | Ye Xin |
| Kaifeng City, Fairgrounds | Next to Boundary Stone | Yin Qianshuang |
| Kaifeng City, Fairgrounds | East of Boundary Stone, Market | Xiao Shanren |
| Kaifeng City, Forsaken Quarters | Market south of the riverbank | Niu Mang |
| Kaifeng Region, Apricot Village | Central market | Fuling |
| Kaifeng City, South Gate Avenue | Vendor Stalls northwest of Boundary Stone | Shen Er |
| Kaifeng City, South Gate Avenue | Stalls east of Boundary Stone's bridge | Yu Buchi |
| Kaifeng City, West Gate Crossroads | Stall in the Crossroads | Fang Tiantian |
| Kaifeng Region, Jadewood Court | Northeast of Boundary Stone | Broadsword Chen |
| Kaifeng Region, South Gracetown | Stall next to lake | Wang Qishun |
| Kaifeng Region, South Gracetown | Stalls near the lake | Shi Mian |
| Kaifeng Region, South of Kaifeng Prefecture | Small market between Grand Canal and Wheatwind Bazaar Boundary Stones | Tang Gu |
Why Elegance “isn’t working” for some players
Most failed Elegance gains come down to one of two things.
- Buying the dish but not consuming it: Purchasing from the NPC doesn’t award the point by itself. The increase happens when you eat it from your inventory.
- Skipping the cat interaction: If you pet a cat but skip the interaction/cutscene, the gain may not register.
Making it efficient without turning it into a grind
If you want a low-friction route, roam in Kaifeng City to pick up both cats and vendors naturally, then clean up any remaining Gourmet dishes by targeting stalls near Boundary Stones and markets. Once you’ve worked through the dish milestones for a vendor’s offerings, move on rather than spending extra Commerce Coins on foods that have stopped producing Elegance gains.
