Fuddles advance themselves in many ways. Experience plays a large part, but can not be rushed. Items, Tools, and Weapons allow for small temporary leaps, and there are a few spells which can boost certain abilities beyond their normal limitations.

Many advances and new abilities though, can not be won without knowledge. Learning not only improves skills a fuddle already has, but teaches new skills which can not be obtained any other way.

One can learn things many ways, none of which involve waking up with the sudden realization of relativity (yes, I know that Einstein did it, but he was Einstein!, he could do that sort of thing). You learn by reading scrolls, playing with the tools of your trade, and by being taught by others. In order to read the scrolls, you must first learn to read. Scholars are taught to read automatically, so they are generally the best teachers for this, but they are limited by the pupil which they are teaching. Blacksmiths don't have the ability to read something written for or by a Farmer, and never gain it, and vise-versa. Blacksmiths and Weaponsmiths can sometimes find a new way to strengthen or design items which they already know how to make, over time, and usually at random, depending on their familiarity of that item. Farmers can test the properties of certain herb combinations, in order to find formulas which provide useful results. And lastly, anything which one fuddle knows, he or she has the option to teach that knowledge to a fuddle of the same class, or if the fuddle knows how to read and write, he or she may decide to write it down, in which case it can be read by fuddles of the same class as well as scholars and wizards, though the latter two may not be able to put the information to direct use.