I just got back into Unreal World yesterday after a few years off and on creating a new character I noticed that skills which were at 0% could have 2 skills points applied to them. I'm not sure if it applies to all skills, but it worked for both Agriculture and, I think, timbercraft. Unfortunately I didn't take any screenshots but here is how it worked:
A skill is at 0%
1 skill point is applied to it, boosting it to around 10% and turning the associated letter red - it cannot be boosted further at this point.
That skill point is removed, bringing it back down to 0%
That skill can now have 2 skills points spent on it, but the letter won't change colour until the 2nd one is applied.
This means a skill which starts at 0% can be brought up to around 25-30%, although at the cost of 2 skill points.