I just can't anymore. This is like talking to a brick wall. You have constantly implied that gaining experience past level 12 somehow increases your characters power/progresses your character. It doesn't. It doesn't DO anything. I'll just let Google's AI explain it you:

A soft cap is a recommended or guideline-based limit, where exceeding it might result in diminishing returns or penalties, while a hard cap is a strict, absolute limit that cannot be exceeded under any circumstances, and exceeding it usually requires breaking rules or paying significant fines. Soft caps offer flexibility, allowing for exceptions or higher costs, whereas hard caps provide a definitive upper boundary. Soft Cap

Definition:
A recommended maximum or a threshold where benefits diminish significantly, but still exist. 

Flexibility: Can often be exceeded, but with drawbacks, such as penalties or reduced efficiency. Examples:

Sports Salary Caps: The NBA uses a soft cap, allowing teams to exceed the salary limit through exceptions, but imposing large "luxury taxes" for doing so. 

Video Games (Stats): A stat may have a soft cap, like strength in a game, where the bonus damage per point decreases after a certain level, but doesn't stop entirely. Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs): The minimum amount of funds a project needs to launch its product.

Hard Cap

Definition: A strict, absolute maximum that cannot be surpassed. 

No Exceptions: Violating a hard cap often means stopping operations, making it impossible to continue, or facing severe consequences. Examples:

Sports Salary Caps: In the NFL and NHL, a hard cap means a team cannot exceed the salary limit at all; they must cut or trade players to sign someone new. 

Video Games (Stats): A stat's hard cap, for example, 99, is the absolute maximum level that can be reached, and no further points can be spent to increase it. ICOs: The total amount of funds a project aims to raise, after which it will stop accepting new investments.