Oil spots on my parking spot, how bad is this really?

[keatonketteridge]

Came out this morning and noticed a small dark patch under the front of my Cherokee, not huge but definitely fresh, and when I checked the dipstick it was a touch lower than I'd like. There's also a faint burnt smell after longer drives that I'd been ignoring for weeks, which now makes me think it's connected. I wiped everything down to see if I could trace where it's coming from but honestly everything under there is covered in grime so I couldn't tell if it's the valve cover, rear main seal, or just a loose filter. A neighbor told me he'd used a trusted Jeep leak repair in Musaffah for something similar and that they actually pressure tested and traced it instead of guessing, which sounds way better than my usual approach of topping up and praying. My worry is getting told I need a full seal job when it might just be a gasket, so how do you guys usually handle this? Is it worth paying for a proper dye test first, and how long can I realistically keep driving with a slow seep like this before it becomes a real problem?