they start at 1, like every class.

One little tidbit for when you actually start hitting nodes. Find 3 or 4 mines within a close distance of each other. Go to Mine 1, mine it, BUT DO NOT LOOT THE ORE, go to Mine2, mine it and again do not loot ore. Repeat starting from Mine 1 and each time you mine you will get a skillup until it starts hitting yellow/green. Mines take a few mins to reset in order to get a skillup (not sure of actual time.)