Okay, now can anyone answer these two questions:

What determines the rate of appearance for a monster? I can slay about 40 skeletons in one area before they start appearing less and less frequently and then just stop appearing. And I don't want to break my chain by fighting Steelings.

How can I increase the number of hits a character can do? Sometimes my Vaan will hit two times in a row, and rarely three times! Does some stat determine how this happens? Needless to say, seeing '3 Hit' above my character's head is a great feeling.