“So you just want me to take a look at the types of magic you can use?” Wyne asked after Gaia had explained her current situation to the girl.

“Yup, that’s exactly what I meant. Right now, I can’t use anything besides my healing magic, simply because I don’t really know what I’m capable of,” Gaia explained while Wyne scratched her chin.

“I could take a look of course, but I don’t think it’ll help you as much as you’re thinking. Even if you are right and you have unknowingly obtained another type of magic, you probably won’t be able to use it right away. Honing your magic and skills takes time after all,” she explained.

“What do you mean by that? You’re able to use magic too, aren’t you? It can’t be that difficult, can it?” Gaia asked confused.

“No offense of course,” she added, after which Wyne shook her head.

“None taken. But what you’re saying isn’t true though, what I’m using isn’t magic. Magic is something that’s way too complicated for us Treefolk. I’m just using a simple skill, granting me the ability to appraise people. Using something as advanced as magic just isn’t possible for me,” the girl replied with a shy smile.

Gaia blinked a few times.

“There’s a difference between magic and skills?” She asked slowly as Wyne gave her a confused look.

“Well yeah, of course there is. Didn’t you ever- Oh wait, I’m sorry. You never had anyone to teach you about this kind of stuff, right? Don’t worry, I didn’t understand it the first time Dyan explained it either, but then again, I was only twelve, so…”

The girl continued rambling on about her former studies with the man named Dyan as Gaia quickly felt herself zoning out. Looking at the girl, she couldn’t help but feel both young and old, as if she needed an explanation for every new thing she discovered. Not having the knowledge about stuff needed to survive in this world really could be a bother sometimes. Trying not to show her slight irritation, she turned to Wyne again.

“Could you explain the difference between the two, please?” She asked, a little grumpily.

“Oh! Yes, of course. I’m sorry, I tend to get excited about teaching and stuff,” Wyne said apologetically.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind,” Gaia said, minding it a lot.

“Right. So, the difference between magic and skills. It’s really simple actually, since they are very closely related. Let’s start with magic. In order to use it, you first need to have a few things. You need the affinity for the type of magic you want to use in order to create a spell construct from mana. Do you know anything about those things already, so I won’t have to explain them again?”

“I know about mana, but I haven’t heard about those other two yet. Affinities and spell constructs, you said?” Gaia asked, having trouble keeping up with the girl already.

“Yup. If you have the affinity for, let’s say, ice magic, that means that you are able to construct ice magic spell constructs. The same works with other types of magic as well, although some affinities are more rare than others. I’ve heard there are some people who are able to use more than one type of magic, although I’m not sure if that’s myth or not.”

“So… an affinity grants you the ability to use different spells of a certain type of magic,” Gaia said, still trying to grasp the full concept. “Is there a way to obtain affinities, through evolution for example?”

Wyne thought about her question for a moment before she shrugged.

“I have no idea. It could be possible, but I don’t know for sure. I could ask Dyan about it later, maybe he knows more about it.”

“Alright then, we’ll leave it at that for now. Could you explain about spell constructs next?”

“Sure, though I can only tell you what Dyan taught me. Again, I can’t use magic myself, so… Well anyway, in order to create a spell, you need to set up the construct first. Basically you weave a pattern with your own mana, which will act as… well, Dyan used the word “blueprint,” but I have no idea what that means,” Wyne said a bit defeated.

“Don’t worry, I know what it means,” Gaia said, after which the girl perked up.

“Really? Oh, that makes things so much easier! So anyway, depending on the “blueprint” you make, a different result will occur. A simple spell like an ice spear will have a different spell construct than an more difficult ice wall construct. The construct holds all information about the spell, like how much mana it uses for instance. Dyan told me there are ways to improve spells by changing up their constructs, and that there are entire schools dedicated to this process.”

“He sure is knowledgeable about this sort of stuff,” Gaia said absentmindedly, after which Wyne tilted her head a little. “Dyan I mean. He knows a lot for someone living in a small village in the middle of the woods.”

“He said he travelled a lot when he was young. Visited other countries and all that,” Wyne explained.

“Seems nice, exploring the world,” Gaia murmured.

“Yeah, it does,” Wyne answered as she looked up at the clear night sky. “I wonder what it’s like.”

“Why don’t you find out yourself?” Gaia asked after a short moment of silence, during which she inspected the small girl. She didn’t know how she hadn’t notice before, but the girl was really tiny for her age, being only about one and a half meter tall. Maybe it was a racial thing, she figured.

“I can’t,” Wyne replied with a sad smile. “I have to look after the villagers. It’s my duty as their Elder.”

“What?” Gaia said confused. “What do you mean? Are you their leader or something? Aren’t you a bit young for that?”

“I guess you could say I’m their leader, yes. It’s our people’s law that the most talented person becomes Elder, no matter their age or gender. I was twelve when I was selected, Dyan was the Elder before that.”

“And you got selected because you were the most talented? Because you had a single skill which tells you how strong someone is? Was that all?” Gaia asked perplexed. She was surprised the Treefolk had managed to live all these years with such a clumsily constructed way of governing their communities.

“Yep, that’s all,” the girl sighed. “I still think Dyan would make a better Elder than me. It’s not like I don’t enjoy having the job or anything, it’s just that… well, I’m just too young for all this.”

Wyne looked down at the ground with a sad expression. Gaia wanted to say something to cheer her up, but she couldn’t come up with anything that would make the girl feel better. She knew all about the pressure old people can put on you, intentionally or not, but it was hard to come up with a solution for it on the spot, so she kept silent.

“I’m sorry, we’re getting sidetracked,” Wyne said after a while, rubbing her eyes. “You wanted to know the difference between skills and magic, right? Let’s go on with it then.”

“It’s okay,” Gaia said friendly. “Having such a heavy task resting on your shoulders can’t be easy. It’s good to let it out sometimes. Don’t bottle it up, that’ll only make it worse.”

Wyne smiled softly as she replied.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. I talk about it with my friend Nyma from time to time, she is a really sweet girl. Thanks for caring about me, I appreciate it, I really do. Is it okay if I continue explaining now? I feel like that’s the best thing to do,” she said.

“If you say so,” Gaia replied, relieved that Wyne had someone to talk with about this sort of stuff.

She remembered her own friends back on Earth and how they had helped her when she was sad. She couldn’t remember their faces or names anymore, but their kindness remained, engraved in her heart and memories. She wondered how they were doing now, and if they missed her. She missed them at least, that was for sure.

“So anyway, I’ve explained roughly how magic works now. You whip up a spell construct with mana and push some more mana, which creates the desired effect. Now skills on the other hand work a bit differently. A skill is like a single spell engraved into your body, which activates when you pump mana into it,” Wyne said, seemingly having refound her previous excitement.

“Isn’t that practically the same as magic? Using mana to create the desired effect?” Gaia asked confused.

“Yes and no. Although the result of a skill can be the same as a spell, there is a fundamental difference between the two. Let’s compare ice magic and ice skills for instance. With ice magic, you need an affinity for ice to create a mana construct for, let’s say, an ice spear. You create the construct with mana, pump some more mana into the construct and the ice spear appears.”

“How do skills work then?”

“Well, imagine the ice spear construct, except it’s glued to your body. That’s practically what a skill is. That means you can’t use it to create anything besides ice spears, no matter how much you train and refine it. At best, you can maybe change the shape a little. The good thing though, is that you don’t need to create a spell construct, just use mana to create the spear itself.”

“What does that mean? Which one of the two is better then, magic or skills?” Gaia asked, trying to shelve all of this new information in her brain.

“Ah, that depends entirely on the situation. Magic is more versatile than a skill, so you would think magic is the more powerful option, but that’s not always the case. Spell constructs cost a lot of mana and time to create, especially the more complicated ones, whereas even the most powerful skills activate almost instantly and without any additional cost.”

“I see,” Gaia said, beginning to get a clearer picture of how the two worked now. “It’s complicated, but I think I get it. Skills are faster and cheaper mana wise, but magic has more applications, right?”

“Yup, that’s correct. I can give you another example if you like. I can use my appraisal skill about five times a day, without any need to prepare the skill. I’m told that an appraisal spell costs almost twice as much mana though, and it takes almost a minute to create the spell construct. That should give you an idea about how the two are differ from eachother.”

“Damn, that’s pretty amazing,” Gaia marveled. “So is there a way to obtain skills?”

“Well, you previously asked if it was possible to gain affinities through evolution. Well, with skills it’s certainly possible, or actually, it’s the only way to obtain them. Of course some people are born with skills, either passive ones or active, but evolution is by far the best way to obtain them. Skills can improve through evolution as well, making them stronger or more versitale as a whole.”

“Damn, talking about all these cool things has made me curious,” Gaia said excitedly. “Could you take a look at my skills and magic now? If you’re not too tired, at least. I’m aware I’m keeping you out of bed here."

“Don’t worry, I can stay awake for a little while longer. Well then, I guess I’ll take a look at your abilities now. I’m kinda curious what kind of skills and magic a legendary tree would have, I must admit,” Wyne said with a smile.

“Go ahead,” Gaia replied, after which Wyne sat down cross-legged and stared at her.

Gaia watched as Wyne’s eyes started to glow softly in the dark night, illuminating her face a little. The girl's face showed no emotion just yet, but Gaia could sense her excitement through their telepathic connection. Mentally holding her breath, Gaia waited a few minutes until Wyne’s eyes dimmed again.

“Well?” She asked as Wyne leaned back with her hands on the ground. The girl sighed as she looked at Gaia with a mixed expression.

“You might want to take notes,” she said in a tired voice. “It’s going to be a long list.”