Defaults; how do they work

[kirbwarrior]

Now, I've read over the rules, and the FAQ, and I've always thought that, when you put 4pts into, say, Spear from Staff -2, that you now have the Spear skill at Staff -1. But my GM is thinking that those 4pts are only improving the default, not saying you actually have the skill.

Can anyone clear this up? I hope my GM's interpretation is wrong, it seems both unrealistic and bad/unnecessarily complicated for a game.

Thanks ahead of time.

EDIT: My GM seems to think that their interpretation is realistic. That seems to be a huge thing in our debate.