"I'm not a sorceror. I'm a wizard."

"The distinction being?"

"Wizards have to learn their spells the long way."

"… I don't have spells as such."

"...How do you do magic, then?"

"It's more a – continuous thing?" He indicates the metal rod he's holding. "This is – a permanent artifact thingy, helps me focus Chi the right way?"

"Weird. Can you demonstrate something?"

Deep breath, and then the metal rod goes shinier–

And then he jumps about six feet into the air.

Wait, why is she impressed with him and not just the magic?

Who knows!

"What sorts of spells can you do, then?"

Ooh, he's asking her a question.

"Oh, all sorts. There's two big categories, divine and arcane, and then it gets broken down further from there into the different schools. I focus on arcane magic. One of the simplest spells is Prestidigitation," she waves a hand through the air trailing green and gold sparkles, "which you can use for all sorts of little effects. Bigger spells cost more mana, but also do more." And then she's off and running into a serious lecture on general theory of magic with visual aids where appropriate. It would be much more accessible with about four years of schooling and lot of background knowledge that he doesn't actually have. But she's very enthusiastic about the subject!

He tries to pay attention, but stops her before she can get into anything about enchanting. Or spellbinding. Or elemental magic.

"I think this needs a lot more than just a five minute conversation. And. Probably should not be done while we are in a forest at risk of being eaten by a grue."

"That's probably a good idea. Do you have somewhere to go?"

"I… am sort of on a quest."

"Exciting! I was going to find a quest to go on after I graduated. What are you questing for?"

"To try to work out why there are extremely large gashes in the ground over near Ajolta. And why Ajolta and surrounding towns are rather – suddenly uninhabited."

"That sounds quest-worthy. Do you want help?"

"Help would be appreciated!" he says. "Unfortunately not many people know very much in the way of magic. And while there are a few brave adventurers, or whatever," he says, a little dismissively, "they don't seem to actually want to help."

"Well, I'm more than willing."

"… If you're from another plane you might not be used to much in the way of what we have here." Pause. "We still have the same laws of physics, right, gravity and momentum and such?"

"I wouldn't characterize those phenomena as laws, they're more like general guidelines."

"What's stuff like where you're from? We had a bit where – it didn't seem to apply to some planets, was a bit off, but turns out our calculations were instead."

"If you try to do anything resembling calculation to the way the world works, it's likely to change the way it does, just to spite you."

"… Not where I'm from it isn't?"