Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-28686446-20160630100236/@comment-26484417-20160630104043

I suspect that one way out of this is simply to make the higher Floors considerably more time-consuming by whatever means available (e.g., longer wait for the tests, longer tests, more difficult tests, challenges to get to the tests, etc.).

Another "excuse" SIU can use is that their swift ascension so far is the result of their overwhelming starting advantage (e.g., Zahard'd blood, 10 Great Families' blood, etc.). However, the weaker Regulars are left behind as they climb the Floors, which consistently raises the bar for an average Regular. In other words, the higher Floors may turn out to be so difficult to reach that even some 10 Great Family Regulars barely pass for an average Regular among the competition.

Moreover, nothing prevents SIU from developing a great story AFTER our characters have reached the "top". There could--and hopefully will--be many adventures and challenges between Baam's ultimate fate and the time they reach the Ranking Bureau.

Finally, there is always the chance that SIU intends to (permanently) separate Baam from the current cast. It could be done very well, and it's clearly not something we're expecting when even your concern is expressed as "SIU writing himself into a corner" that assumes a corner instead of a boundary.