I really like the base ideas here, could make an amazing game down the line. Sprites are nice, well made!
For music you can jump into the BBS and grab something fromt the PICO-tunes any time for your games! Sound effects are also a nice would be thing!
The only “big” criticism is that you have to look up and down all the time to check your level against all the other numbers on the screen, would be nice to have the lvl above (below) the player as you have to navigate tricky already!
Would love to have the full game with meta progression, keep it up, post on socials so we can see the progress! Well done!