Hello, it's the author, Cookie, here, looking to make waves once again. This time, with a fresh start. Just so we're all on the same page, I'd like to have a bit of your time before you dive head-first into my work.

Previous versions of this work may have been published on other platforms, but I recommend you to read the story here. Of course, who am I to stop you if you can't help craving some more IAT when I have yet to catch up to other sites? I can only take that as a compliment, and remind you that there are major discrepancies between versions, from characters and their personality, to entire plotlines and arcs. This is the one I, myself, consider Canon, as well as its final iteration.

Now, I'm both the author as well as my own number one reader. Going through many reboots and rewrites happens to require a lot of rereading, you see. With that said, as the highest authority in the field, I'd argue there are two ways one can enjoy Immortal Ascension Tower.

Number three is skipping this author's note altogether and just doing as your guts say. That is of course, also a respectable choice. A story should never have to rely on factors outside of it to be significant, it should always stand on its own.

This lengthy preface will take up this whole chapter, so you can skip this chapter and jump right into the thick of it. Again, I thank you for reading in advance and hope you'll have a great time!

Now then, let’s talk about the outside factors that make this story especially significant.

As I was saying, a novel should be whole in and of itself. On the other hand, there will always be ways to better a story and its storytelling. In the case of Immortal Ascension Tower, its many mysteries are a big part of its worldbuilding. As such, the *first way* would be to go in blind in regards to all extra content, avoiding even some of the author's notes at the end of a few chapters.

This I'd call the most "sterile" experience. You'll feel the world slowly open up as tidbits of information can be gleaned from one conversation here or a passage there, and eventually culminate into whole, major reveals.

I do not, however, recommend this path to those who are reading chapters sporadically, or perhaps if I'm in the early stages of its writing and there are few chapters built up.

This book contains enough exposition on its own, but I made it so that much of the worldbuilding is hidden between the lines: with enough details piled up and still fresh in your mind, one will eventually reach a lot of the same conclusions as reading the extras, although more as big reveals and not as a linear culmination of all exposition given in advance.

However, this becomes much harder if one is not carefully binge-reading the series.

Alas, that's how most good novels start: from a single publication. There's a need for patience.

Similarly, if you're a sort of perfectionist/completionist to your core, or just merely curious, I doubt you'd want to pass on some beautifully written and exhaustively edited backstory (the same I, unfortunately, can't say for some of the author notes and comments when I might be rushing in the future, but I will at least try my best).

Again, I have written and thoroughly edited this novel more than once. I'd say this would be the fifth (and hopefully final) iteration of IAT. It was my first novel, and as a non-native speaker, my English when I first started was not pretty. Likewise, my grasp of an author's means was... laughable. Just like writing an essay for school, I was just making things up as I went, hoping that eventually, everything would magically come together.

At first, a few coats of paint did the job just fine. Fast forward a few years, and the whole structure had to be taken down and rebuilt from scratch.

Naturally, most tenants wouldn't stand for it and would just leave for another building. However, there would be a few hopeful, nostalgic fools who would stick with Immortal Ascension Tower, however bad my whims got, and the hiatuses lasted.

As such, a big goal of mine this time around was to keep things fresh and interesting even for returning readers (after all, it's largely thanks to them I got to this point in the first place). Cue the extra content, as well as the many, many details hidden between the lines.

"Oh, I never understood that it was like that back then! I'm glad I read this extra content", “Oh, so he changed things around like this! Hey, that makes so much more sense!” and "Wow, I remember this will be a thing x chapters from now! I caught a foreshadowing!" are the reactions I'm looking to cause into returning readers through this thoughtful writing style of mine.

One can also take it as a kind of meta-writing. A great example of this would be the writing of the hit manhwa Tower of God, which when starting out (or, at least, it used to a lot more back in the day) hid a lot of its story hidden in blogposts and author notes from the author SIU.

Or maybe you have played FromSoftware games and very much enjoyed exploring the deeper lore that can only be found when thoroughly reading item descriptions (or just looked up some recap videos on youtube, I don't judge). I’m sure a certain game from not long ago that has yet to be figured out is still fresh in many people’s minds.

I was initially thinking of just making a comparison to the Lord of the Rings and Sir J. R. R. Tolkien. Then, as a new author with little under my belt and much to learn, I soon realized how conceited that would have sounded out of the blue, so I made sure to tiptoe my way here.

As such, the *second way* of the two options is: if you're a returning reader looking for fresh and new content; if you're the kind of person that can't wait for chapters to build up and instead likes to read the whole stockpile at once but, doing so, quickly catches up and struggles to remember the fine details between uploads (but would still like some stimulation in the form of reveals like "Ah! To think that amongst all that information, I was blindsided by this detail that is, in actuality, core to the story!").

If you like the kind of metawriting in Tower of God (or, and forgive my arrogance here, the appendixes and notes regarding the untold background in the Lord of the Rings).

If you just want to enjoy this story to its fullest without minding minor "spoilers" about the setting and its mythology from the get-go, then I suggest you make sure to thoroughly dive into the extra content and author notes.

One last thing before I leave you to my child, just to be clear: the following eleven chapters are strictly 'that side content'.

The first five are a short, five-act side story (just over 9000 words long) that will also be mentioned and discussed in the novel itself (of course, nowhere near as extensively). I took the time to expand upon and refine it so as to let it act as a standalone tale. Unlike the following six dumps of exposition which might not interest those who are looking to dive in completely blind, I strongly urge you to read this side story. Or, at least, come back to it once it's formally introduced and finished telling in the main novel if you're not sure what to expect. The characters in the novel will have their own subjective interpretations of the tale and will focus on the points that are important to them. Case and point, our MC doesn’t completely buy into- Cough! I stopped myself just shy of that, hurry on before my fingers slip again!

Ahem, the five chapters of side story, on the other hand, will recount it in full, leaving the points that were left unexplored by our dear characters for you all to survey yourselves.

Then, the next six chapters are expositions of some of the mythology of this world. The creation myth, some notable figures, and major events that are important to the current timeline...

The content is extremely relevant to the story, but at the same time seldom necessary, and one could argue it walks a fine line between foreshadowing and spoilers in terms of the story's background and some characters that have yet to be formally introduced even a good few chapters in.

Naturally, I have no plans of purposefully spoiling future events or very crucial information out of the blue. I suffered my fair share of that, and wouldn't wish that upon my greatest enemy. Maybe upon my best friend, but even then, that's between the two of us (and no lie, she deserves every bit of it).

To those who aren't gonna stick with us perfectionists from start to end, we'll see each other in the actual first chapter: "Return of Heaven's Bane". Or maybe that'll be just me, given you might not be reading any author's notes because “No spoilers >:(“. Pity.

I hope the writing will do the talking in my place to keep you engaged.

To all deep divers and theory-crafters who’ll be instead examining every little detail: I am looking forward to discussions and to watching you at work as you dissect my baby.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy IAT.

Once again, and forevermore, thanks, and enjoy yourselves.

~Cookie