I'm having exactly the same problem:
In game I am able to equip 2 steel falchions.
When in battle I hit those foul rats all the time, but I always fail to do any damage.
Once, but only once I killed a rat in about 3 or 4 hits.

I was so astonished and tried again, and again, and...
...well I never killed a rat since then.
When I look at my stats, I see that for all fighting skills I have nill. With the PP I got for killing the rat I trained with Harnquist, but I could only do that once, and still all of my fighting skills are nill (some bars have more green in them though...). I do have some levels in magic. While creating my character I knew that it would be more difficult to fight, but I didn't knew It was impossible!
Is this because I have level nill for all fighting skills, and do I have to gain PP by using magic, and then train? Or is this really a bug?

I hope someone answers this question, because I would hate do delete my character

Regards,
Rashin Cirelen
[edit]
Yeah, I know: I should
read first

However: this question still stands: am I able to gain PP by magic and increase my sword skill by training, or am I stuck at nill for the time being?
I know I can try out, but It's waste of time and energy when I fail to level up, isn't it?
Thanks in advance!
[/edit]