well.. the variants would have shut down no matter what you do. they just reached their max. so there's nothing to avoid by not advancing.
I'm not sure what you mean with your person going in an unintended direction, though? your host can't change outside the game.
your progress also only advances for a maximum of three hours, not days.
the auto leveler does not push you into the red numbers on the immune deffense.
you'd still want it to be disabled when returning? you can just disable all areas manually before logging off on the stochastic fluctuation unit.
they will not level up while you are away though. just immediately when you return. but yes, you can just disable the areas that you don't want to level up.
