what is the current "max level" for a character?

[Pierce Hawthorne]

just from killing enemies and available quests, i'm not including NPCs or guards or anything outside of "normal" gameplay.
My first character has been a little disappointing because i was unaware that spreading points out would effect the late game so drastically. I'm pretty much stuck halfway to level 16 and i'm just wondering if there are any levels possible beyond that in the game's current build. It seems like i've finished all the quests i can finish, and i've killed every enemy in the sewers. There's only a couple places in Serpent's Bastion i haven't explored yet but it seems like there's only slimes there, not sure if it will get me to 16 or not.

[Lu2]

16 seems to max normal way . there are few respawning rats which you can gain more but takes ages . no point since there is no content left