Summon Magic question

[Neonii]

Hi:
My summon magic skill without gear is 362. I have 8 merit points included in the 362. Now my question is when my summon magic skill went up it said summon magic is 342. I believe the 362 minus the 8 merit points should be a base of 354 so why is it only 342? What other than gear and merits would add 8 points to the total listed in the magic skill menu? I am trying to cap summon magic. When I was leveling to 90 level 64 plus was done in Campaign, summon magic skill is lacking as a result. Well I did some Fov but mostly campaign.

[Kensagaku]

It might help to note that each merit in Summoning Magic is worth two levels, not one. So eight merits in Summoning Magic is actually 16 levels in that skill. Hope it helps!

Edit: Actually, that's still a bit odd. 362 - 16 = 246. I'm not sure where those last four points came from, maybe you had something else equipped without knowing it?

[Neonii]

No didnt know that makes much more sense now thank you (back to working on smn magic).