RPM Blocking Spells/Instant Gathering

[JulianLW]

I'm not understanding how Blocking Spells work in RPM.

In RPM, under "'Blocking' Spells":

"Ambient energy can be gathered instantly at -10 to skill; this supersedes the normal penalty to reduce time."

So ... does this mean that, if I have the Path skill at 21, I can roll at 11 to gather energy 3 times, then at 10 3 times, then at 9 3 times ... until I have enough energy to power the blocking ritual? ... all instantly? or until I fail a roll, at which point the blocking attempt fails?

Or does it mean that, if I have a blocking spell that costs, say, 30 energy, I have to have a skill high enough to gather (45-Mana Reserve) energy in a single Path-10 roll? Like, if I have RPM Magery 8 and skill 20, I can use my 24 Mana Reserve and then I have to come up with 6 more energy by rolling at 10 and hoping for a 4? Well ... that doesn't seem plausible.

By the same token, if energy can be gathered instantly at -10, does that mean that I can do all my gathering rolls from a base of skill-10 (and hope I never roll a failure, which stops the instant gathering) like normal, but all those gathering rolls happen instantly?

Finally, an unrelated question. Let's say I have Magery 2, so my Path skills are capped at Magery 2 + 12 for 14, but my IQ is 20, and 1 CP in a Path skill would give me 17. If I put 2 points in a Path skill, could I use those extra 4 points of theoretical skill above the cap (18 - 14) to soak penalties?

I couldn't find a clear answer to these questions anywhere, and I'm trying to learn how RPM works! Thanks for responses!