Had to redo the majority of Mt. Rugged due to getting a game over on the boss, spent a good while just going around Dry Dry desert looking for secrets; used the upgrade block on Bombette, Reached Level 8. Stopped after getting to Dry Dry Outpost
did a few side-quests and grabbed as many badges as there were available at this point in the game, ended up pasivelly getting to the highest level I could before starting the next chapter