I have seen some games where it looks like lvl 50 is the max, but if you win enough, you break it, it just shows -- exp to next level, but you continue levelingup. i think this game might be like that
indeed, the game doesn't suck if you lose, it sucks since its all based on luck and random values. there's nothing you can do but keep playing till a non-impossible/impassable path shows up
walkthrough is kinda stupid, it uses an item that we don't have so you still need to do it blind...been stuck on this one last level to gold for a while now