is skill mastery something different than just buying the next level of the skill ?

or is this having gamble and gaining gamble from another source and instead you get a bonus 10% that goes in the bonus' box on the characture sheet...

the book isn't too clear on this, someone please explain it to me.

It applies to both situations, buying advances in a skill to improve it, and also if you gain a skill twice during character creation. You gain skill mastery basically anytime u improve your skill to where your gaining the +10 or +20 to your roll.

Something I should note though that I caught my players trying to do during creation. If you get certain trained skills during character creation from your Career Path, you cannot buy those same skills again off the rank 1selections to gain a +10 skill mastery. I had to correct 4 out of my 5 players. As mentioned else where on the boards, all 1st rank skills, including ones gained automatically, are listed for completeness.

Thanks guys it helps