Wow, thank you for playing!
Yeah, I agree that it's not natural to move back and forth to progress further in any way. I tried to avoid the behavior as much as possible (that's how the idea of steps came in my mind). At the same time, I tried to "punish" player for not toggling off emerald abilities, so the corruption bar was born. In the end, the back-and-forth behavior slipped into the game.
I like the idea of steps conversion. I'll try to implement it after the rating period to see if it's a solution.
Thank you for the feedback!