So I have two questions.

I heard some people on other forum were saying that some skills (like Sorcery) increase on use. Meanwhile, in the actual game I had two saves separated between each other by several fights: amount of Skill EXP was the same - you can see it in game only graphically, but hexviewer showed me 0 Skill EXP gain.

I did this with Lv. 1 characters, maybe it is different for higher level characters? Anyone did any tests?

I noticed that some skills increase automatically on level-up, but that's different case altogether.

My second question is about characters' Age. Is i purely cosmetical stat or eventually characters might become too old, start getting age penalties and things like that?

I came to the conclusion that Sorcery is one of the skills that do not increase with use and not when you level up. I'm not sure if all is correct, but here is what i found out empirically.

- Magic schools do not increase with use, but increase if you level up and are in a class that has those school affiliated. Maybe around 5-10% at each level-up?
- All weapon skills including Kung-Fu increase with use
- Second weapon and Traps&Locks increase with use.
- Forge does not increase with use (strangely enough).
- Deathstrike, Gallantry, Prowess, Sorcery and Athletics do not increase with use.

Not sure about the rest.

Age: I think i never got a character to age for even one year. I'm not even sure if the game keeps book.

Is it possible that skills will level faster if you are training them from the guilds? Because when you spend money on training skills it just says you are training them, rather than giving you an extra point in the skill after spending money.

It actually trains them to the next Skill level after you pay for training.
However, keep in mind, that if you had Skill EXP progress at 99% (for example) before training, it will give you only that 1% required to get to next Skill Level. So train wisely.

Okay so it's supposed to train to the next level of the skill, does it take until you level to do so? Because I see no progress on the character skills/traits screen after paying to raise my Sword skill. Does it not show up until I exit to the world map? Really am just curious.

It is increased the instant you pay for training.
Progress bar shows your progress to next Skill Level. After training, you should have progress (till next Skill Level) at 0% and your Skill Level increased by 1.

Huh, I don't see that when I do it. Strange. Keeping track of my my skill that I just paid to raise and I will see if it shows when I level.