Raise your item level to 119 by completing a tutorial quest!

[Pixela]

I'm not sure that that's true. .

Go into Escha Ru'aun and check monsters with no gear, then full sparks gear, then full 119 gear. You'll see the monsters check level change based on what ilevel gear you have on (which effectively means you level up or down based on your average item level), they will also give less XP as your ilevel increases.

When you see someone in full sparks gear they are level 117, when you are in 119 gear you are 2 levels higher than them.