Although hard to prove, many adventurers believe that there is a hidden "level" system. According to seasoned adventurers, the more "life and death" scenarios you exist in the stronger your hidden "stats" will become. This is a hard to cheat system, because if you are not actually risking life and limb the system will not reward you (apparently).

Adventurers who have fought for years against strong monsters say that they are faster, tougher, and feel that their ability to fight is much better than it could otherwise be, although critics counter this by saying that any person will gain "natural" experience by being in such scenarios.

Testing in controlled environments does not show any significant differences, but seasoned adventurers argue that the leveling system only takes place in true combat scenarios.

Even if it is only a placebo effect, it does seem to help!

-The Adventurers Guide to the Continent