If anything, I underestimated the level when you get your spanking license.
Depending on how you are going through the game, you may or may not be quite there at level 14.
As others have said, the determining factors are the power of your buff spells and then the quality of your equipment.
There's a nice illustration of how good the buff spells are on Ascension Peak when you fight the Crystal Mares (?). They take a long time to beat down once they get their buffs on.
If you want to get your license before taking on the northern part of the swamp and Bayjin, then go to Ferro first. He sells spanking licenses.