This indeed very likely the cause as I said I couldn`t recreate the same events.
Strange as you mentioned a sudden level increase if you look at the second last picture the game level on 2 so there must have been some sort of increment I am not aware of, not just a simple sudden jump.
Thanks for your time and answers, I am off to restart and play the game
Btw your nick seems familiar to me, aren`t you active over at Bear`s Pit too?