Three Square Meals - Chapter 121

Holy shit what an amazing chapter.

ByzFan

Are we gonna see 2 chapters per month ?

As I've been over on Literotica waiting to see chapter 121, I saw your post from 2 days ago and I'm like, yeah nah... I can't wait until chapter 122 is done to get a hold on 121. Love your work, and will gladly contribute to seeing it continue.

There were dozens... but none of the women had given birth before Ailanthia wiped out Larn'kelnar's entire network of thralls. :-(

Tefler

That statement could be exactly true, provided no one got pregnant in this trip, if I recall correctly there was a Thall pregnant earlier in the story, she had Larn rub her belly after said “she will be a strong one”, his matriarch got upset. So there should have been two females with child on Larn’s ship!!

LK left all his pregnant thralls behind when he departed from his empire. As he'd only been in John's territory for the last 8 months... no babies had been born on the dreadnought.

Tefler

Are there babies alive on the Dreadnought

Damn that was good.

kenna

Trust in the Tefler!

Everyday i look i wait i hope

I guess checking in here 20 times a day is not going to get the next installment out any faster. F5

jerry661

How dare you adress Tefler domo as sempai! Yurusan!

Ricardo Miguel Pereira da Silva

Tefler senpai please notice us! *blushes and runs away giggling*

Also, what's John and the girls safe either on the Invictus or with the Maliri, I see a black hole in the future for both of the Black ships on the planet, you cannot leave the one in orbit and you must destroy the one on the planet. Both are to dangerous to be leaving just lying around.

IF Rahn is his father...the jury is still out on that one...perhaps he sent him away to become his own man...AND could help him settle his Guide once and for all!

Arrowglass

I don't see John's Guide ever becoming an ally. It was never designed for such, nor does it have the personality in that regard. Unlike Athena, it was never designed that way. Also, remember that it is *part* of John. What I foresee is that John's Guide may become accepting of John's own growth and finally do what it was always meant to do, which is to fully and finally be subsumed by John giving him the remaining knowledge and powers that are his, voluntarily or otherwise.

Evan

That is my idea in chapter 124

There's still the issue of the freeing & settling of the Abandoned, and one more Nymph to save from the Brimorian.

I must have missed that. But it does make sense. All of the other major empires being brought down were multichapter subplots. And there is the added complication of some retribution for Tashana for her torture. And, it seems that the whole scheme is an officially sanctioned operation; not some small rogue group.

commatoes

What makes you think there will be assassination attempts? (I dont agree or disagree, just curious)

I thought the enshunnu were the subject of the sequel?

Steve

BD88, I would also add the Enshunu on Underworld/Achonin base. ETA: But you might have included that in Ch. 126 : 3?

commatoes

126. 1. Invictus II Started 2. John Makes more Babies 3. With Worm hole drive, John and Crew Tours the Empire and starts to build pease - Day Trips Open Items: 1. Nkkrrit 2. Niskera 3. Wedding

125. - 1 Week 1. John’s Position in the Local Universe as Great Protector / Moral Compass - Becoming Stronger to face other Progenitors - His way 2. More Grand Engineering Overlord in Action 3. Finding Mael’nerak Lab 4. Return to Genthalas 5. Maria / Jehanna visit Genthalas 6. John builds is Empires strength by adding more Maliri

124. - 2 Days 1. More Brimorian Stupidity / Dealing with the Fall out 2. Kirrix - final Resolution 3. The Shroud 4. Invictus Rebuild Part 2 5. More Grand Engineering Overlord in Action

123. - 2 Days 1. Invictus Rebuild for Travel 2. Brimorian Stupidity 3. More John and his Parents 4. Grand Engineering Overlord in Action 5. Maliri political issues

121-3 / 122 - 1-2 Days 1. Status of Invictus 2. Recovery for Team 3. Assassination Attempt Lynette / Maria 4. John and his Parents 5. John and his Guide 6. Little One

This Chapter will soon Close, your thoughts, with a respectful nod to the Great Tefler Twist. My Thoughts:

Does anyone else see a number of AI autonomous Drone Destroyers with the single purpose of protecting / saving the Invictus becoming a part of the package. Maybe they create a secondary shield orb around the Invictus that is generating a constant shielding and defense platform???

4. Did Edraele send the Fleet to support John on his return? Do you think she will allow him to travel unprotected again?

3. John’s Mother and Father 1. Is he really John’s Father? is John a Genetic Experiment? 2. Has John’s Father become passive in his old age?

2. John’s Guide 1. I think that Tefler has done some great foreshadowing were John’s guide is going to eventually accept that the way John has raised his Empire is far stronger than the original plan and slowly become an ally.

1. Status of Faye and Invictus 1. Love or Loss of Faye 1. Do you think that Faye will review the Footage from the one Paragon Suit and see how much everyone was distraught over her loss? 2. Little One’s Existence 3. How long do you think it will take Dana to go into overdrive and start to create her version of Invictus II?

Given all of the emotion that is going to come out in the next chapter just from Chapter 121, not to mention 120 or before - Broken up into separate posts for easy responses:

Based upon past experiences, When Tefler goes Dark it is for one of the following reasons, in order of probability Strong Possibilities: Writing an intense Battle chapter Writing an intense Dialog chapter Less Likely Vacation - Usually announced Illness - Personal Illness - Family Family Commitment Taking a break

Something must be wrong. Tefler is not replying to comments

Paladin

F5 F5 F5 F5 F5....

How do I get verified on Discord as a Patron?

F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F....

Robster

Maybe later. All in due time

Robster

End of the first week of May, so... maybe Tuesday (the 7th), maybe Saturday.

F5?

GrandPaM

Any updates on a date yet?

Here is hoping all is well.

Grimlakin

Last heard was "end of the first week of May."

Jedi Khan

any word on status of the chapter from Tef on Discord?

DTC

I also refreshed the link in the Tefler Master Post index.

LunarLilith

For those who wish to join the TSM discord, please use this link. <a href="https://discord.gg/ByA4Xv5" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://discord.gg/ByA4Xv5</a>

LunarLilith

Link to tsm discord please

eBook 2 typo... 'you really wants it too'... want

Maybe someone needs to check on Tefler. if the Drakkar stopped by for lunch, we might be minus one syfi author now. That would be totally rude of them, but I don’t think they are know for polite manners.

thomas rodrian

An update would be happily received Tefler. :) Course, a drop of the next chapter would be acceptable as well. :p

bigdawguw65, reread chapter 121 its tell you there.

I know we had a brief look into the plans &amp; the why Larn had been acting the way he was but not what brought him to this corner of the Galaxy in the first place , was he sent? just happened to stumble upon it or did he know of the history of Mael &amp; Ranagon's battle ? I hope he left some records . There is now another former thrall race out there now at the mercy of it's enemies without a Progenitor or thralls to protect it , much like the Maliri were , will John &amp; crew move to save them from the Maliri's fate ? Will the records &amp; thoughts of Larn give them some clues to dealing with the Astral Beings ? Some many questions .

bigdawguw65

Hey Tef... eBook 1 typo for ya... 'slim olilve hued' should be olive. Also the continuity error I pointed out previously by PM (1st visit to Commanders Ready Room still describes seeing them leaving Olympus out of the side window, despite them already being in hyperwarp) is still there.

So, even if Faye lost her transmission capabilities and her server wasn’t able to communicate with her body (causing it to collapse), she may never have lost consciousness even if she lacked the ability to connect to anything outside of her server due to the loss of ship’s power in that section. Unless, of course, the attack on the ship that cut it in half hit precisely where her server was located… So, if she did survive and is completely disconnected from all sensors and communications, can you imagine how frantic she must be and at her speeds of processing… If Faye lives, she is going to demand uninterruptible sensors and communications in the future!

Evan

Just a reminder, from chapter 67: He nodded his understanding, then asked, "And this is going to be much safer for her, right? Once she's been transferred to the new server, we won't have to worry about your old hacking deck and that portal from getting disconnected." "Absolutely," Irillith replied with confidence. "Once we've transferred her to the new platform, there's all sorts of redundancies and backup power supplies to make sure she won't be accidentally shut down. Even if she is, the new system can reboot her easily." Dana bounced down the steps to join them and said, "I'll move her server to one of the spare rooms on Deck Three, and Alyssa's offered to encase it in a protective Crystal-Alyssium coating. Even if the Invictus takes severe damage, she'll be safe and sound in there."

Evan

Not accounting for what may happen in the next installment, they have lost exactly one ship (the Invictus) and one soldier (Faye). That may be reversed in the next part though.

Abraham Madsen

never mind John what about Dana!!!

TF4EVA

Link to tsm discord

*Do you really want me to tell you the truth?*. *Lie to me, honey,* *You'll lead us to a miraculous victory, without losing so much as a single ship or soldier. The other Progenitor will capitulate before your unsurpassed might, choosing to flee rather than daring to face your wrath. We'll all live happily ever after, never troubled by war or hardship ever again...*

*Are we just kidding ourselves, Edraele? Have we got any chance of stopping the Progenitor if he mounts a full-scale invasion?*

I just found out about this story two weeks ago... and it's absolutely amazing. It doesn't fit my kinks at all, but the story still sucked me in completely... so much so that it's basically all I've done when not working. Absolutely amazing.

Mason Nyx

I believe Little One is hosted inside the bot itself. Its server only used to initialize the program and provide additional processing power.

Jedi Khan

How come little one survived and Fay didn't when both of there servers were kept in rooms side by side. As described in ch 118 Fay's server room and little one's flight simulator server room were side by side.

To me this one is easy. The story is primarily written from John's POV. John was raised a Terran, and understands Progen. The measurment was in years because that is what John is most familiar with.

John Teeter

F5?

GrandPaM

aNK...both would have been correct statements, given the supposition being discussed.

GrandPaM

Tefler, not sure if you intended this the way you have it, but it has survived through a couple major edits now. Last page: “You would have given up your life to let me leave,” she replied, her cerulean eyes filled with certainty. Did you mean "live" rather than leave?

that might explain Jessica's hesitation &amp;confusion when John asked her if Rahn was his father . He didn't want another male around . Maybe once he had a new Matriarch &amp; found the Astral Beings couldn't affect him here he changed his plans &amp; decided to lay low &amp; live in peace &amp; not start another Empire that might attract another Progenitor to him , sort of like the Ashanta not letting any one know about Progenitors or the Legacy .

bigdawguw65

A1T, there is the possibility that John is not Rahn's son. If Jessica was only just pregnant when she found the ship and was turned, any change to her DNA may have transferred to John in the womb. Rahn would not want a rival stuck on the planet with him, so sent Jessica back to Terra, to leave John there and return herself after destroying the ship and any link to Rhan and Arcadia. Just a thought!

toughened shield probably or physically stable psychic constructs, temporary or otherwise.

keen_FlattendHedgeHog

All I know is that whatever happens next is. The true family reunion will be quite interesting. Depending on what John’s “I set your mom out to get smokes and had her left you at the gas station” father has to say about the situation that they find themselves in with the astral entities. My main question, is why a boy? He needs thralls for power and he had Johns mom as a battery factory? So is he really nutz? Probably.

Alphaonetango

I believe this was addressed a little later when she pulled off her successful sneak attack on Larn. She said it was the first assassination that she actually enjoyed.

Jedi Khan

also it is mentioned twice, once by Larn and once by Alyssa that Rachael's shield turns opaque. wonder what that is foreshadowing?

rich ed

"Although Sakura was deeply worried for John, Alyssa, and the girls, she was surprised to find herself getting excited at the thought of fighting a Progenitor. Yes, Larn’kelnar was a monster, orchestrating the deaths of millions since his arrival in this part of the galaxy, and deeply in need of punishment for his crimes. However, it wasn’t her sense of justice that wanted to see him brought down... there was a deeper need than that nagging in the back of her mind". Do you think this is because John had planned that Sakura was going to have to finish him off if PJ took over?

rich ed

They still have the smaller ship Larn was heading for! I wonder if touching that one is as bad for Alyssa?

Arrowglass

rich...I think the grey energy was a result of John &amp; PJ sharing the battle , John's white &amp; PJ's black .

bigdawguw65

LOL. Station or ship?

He's stated on Discord that he estimates the chapter by the end of the first week of May.

Jedi Khan

Just the International Space Station, since they took the Shuttles out of service. ;-)

A lazy day and decided to scroll through the comments, almost as entertaining as reading the story itself!! To a few of you, you know this is only a story, there is no white ship floating around up there!! :) To others I believe your comments must provide Tefler with a great deal of artistic input on possible directions for the storyline, must admit some comments made me re-think a few of story lines. Tefler, I agree with many others that your skill at putting the story line together and creating that into a cliff hanging entertaining book has improved significantly. Been a real pleasure reading your development. I am sure This series will become a significant sci-fi book series.

Anyone know what's Tefler's current best guess as when he will post the next Chapter/Update?

<a href="https://discord.gg/ZrxPVa" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://discord.gg/ZrxPVa</a>

Read where Tefler states that he finished the chapter. That tells me to expect chapter 122 by mid May.

Rocketman

Anyone have the link to TSM discord

F5

Am hoping Tef's gonna surprise us with part deux of 121 without bothering with a status update... just straight in there in 5...4...3...2...1...

I need 122...

I'm really curious where Tef plans to take Larn's ship. I have a hard time accepting John being willing to just hand it over to RH. What would be really neat is if they discover the black metal was similar to crystal alyssium in some way, maybe mutable via the soul forge. Use all that material to repair and upgrade the invictus and/or provide the foundation for their new trading station along the border?

Steve

so john and larn are both doing grey energy in 121. is that fore shadowing?

rich ed

Just warp it to Genthalas. It would make a fine ship for the Queen.

Big Orca

Agree with that idea GO...as it's to dangerous to just leave floating in space , by giving it to the least aggressive race might be a great idea . If the Greys had any sort of power trip in mind they would have crushed Terra when they started into space , you could hope they would only use it defensively &amp; keep it from falling into the wrong hands . I only worry they might be effected by the physic echo's like Alyssa but they didn't mention any problems about the Legacy , although if I remember right , some of the crew that recovered the cannon had a bad reaction to it.

bigdawguw65

Tefler did not say, but I suspect the Watch Command did not see what cannot be seen. If someone out in space was trying to be sneaky, I suspect they would put their ship in stealth mode before an attack. On the other hand, maybe you’re right and the Watch Command failed to do her job. If that is the case, John needs to severely punish her for dereliction of duty. What would be the appropriate punishment?

thomas rodrian

Why wasn't Faye able to shout a warning, at the very least, to the crew right before LK's first shot on the Invictus? Were ALL her processing streams off daydreaming or something? Wasn't SHE on "Watch Commander" duty? Were the Invictus' sensors all blinded to theenergy buildup so close to the hull from LK's ship (given that the shot buildup was VISIBLE, this does not make sense to me.

GrandPaM

Keep calm and carry on!

Nekronom

Hang on lad(ie)s, I've got a great idea . . .?

Bear up! And just spare a thought for the poor schmucks on Lit and SOL who have a long wait a-coming staring at those deadly last pages in 200, before 201(H1+H2) graces their screens. The wailing will get to fever pitch, I have no doubt - it killed me here, just waiting for H1!!!

Timbo

Is that a lynch mob I hear gathering...!! Tef the natives are growing restless!!!

B S

I still think that the Invictus hanging over a cliff on the planet 😀

Depending on the nature of the power distribution system, if it's plasma conduits, he might just need to align enough conduits together and hope there isn't too much of a gap...

mark

It's only my impression , but I think that rather than "docking" meaning re connecting the ship halves , Little one just got them aligned &amp; temporarily joined so it they wouldn't drift apart &amp; was trying to get them on the ground with the least damage as possible . They only had seconds (47 according to little one) so any reconnecting of power cables , rebooting of Faye or fancy maneuvers are pretty much out of the question . just my 2 cents

bigdawguw65

So, I wonder: once the Invictus has been made more or less whole, can Faye reverse a tractor beam to slow the ship's descent to acceptable levels? Or will the thrusters on the rear section be re-enabled just in the nick of time? Or maybe Faye decides to engage the engines to take the craft out of the planet's gravity well. Decisions, decisions...

Lazy or is it not very creative?

I too would like to go with this theory..Faye was very afraid of her crews survival and should have built in multiple measures for crew survivability and sustenance on Invictus. That should now help her.

That would be one hell of a docking bay! I cant imagine hollowing out a space to accommodate the 750 m long Invictus would be a worthwhile investment of volume within a spaceship, even one the size of a dreadnought. Unless progenitors treat destroyers the way terrans/Maliri treat fighters.

Steve

Just to point out: ‘Initiate docking manoeuvre with rear hull section – complete.’ and ‘Attempt to reduce Invictus descent velocity – in progress...’ So, the Invictus will be in one piece when it ‘lands’ on the planet, and Faye’s server is very securely protected in Crystal Alyssium... and the surviving Nymphs would have their impact cushioned by being in the Lagoon... so the Invictus may be in better shape than one would otherwise believe after falling from orbit, since its impact was not prevented, but was mitigated.

Evan

progenitors wouldn't need ship operators, they could fully automate. even without AI they have the time. but i guess that they need entertainers, and those entertainers need something to do, hence the ship design. though progenitors seem pre-programmed and kinda lazy.

keen_FlattendHedgeHog

Well: John has to take control of the ship. He cannot afford to have it just laying around for some pirate to claim...or the Kirrix.

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

All I gotta say about the dreadnought is that automation can solve operations (robot helper army). I think that John will take the ship to crush the Brimorians

Forbsey

Jade is now vastly different from the Nymph the Brimoran leader has. Larn thought she was some sort of psychic manifestation that John had created(which is kinda true...)......then she ripped his arm off

B S

Adding a late comment about the deck plans, and their arrival, we got the plans for the Fool's Gold just after John stopped using her. I don't see John totally stopping using the Invintus, maybe like a captain's yacht because the full differences in sizes had not felt fully expressed. John wouldn't have enough thrall turned minions to properly operate the dreadnaught anyway. The big question is "we're fayes files on progenitor servers compromised by the interruption" including the original mobile hack?

So Jade seems to be super old, prehistoric even by Progenitor time standards...small comments here and there is just keeping up the suspense. Another key point was Jade was never influenced or found out in this chapter. When Lan had visited Brimorian world the girl there appeared to be subservient to him.

I have a tiny suggestion: If there are several edits on a chapter, don't remove the old changelogs from the description and just list them all so we know whether what we missed is worth re-reading or not. Edit: precised the advantage and improved the description.

mommyderg

And of course lots of lion lovin'. Time to bring back Dana's JP uniform! :3

I'm hoping for a few chapters of rest, recuperation, introspection and growth from our heroes after this. We haven't had a prolonged time without battle since the 70s (?) as the Lion has bounced from one battle to the next, like a galactic pinball of justice! #vactaiontimefortheLion

I think that the we will find out that the Shuttle bay on the black ship is big enough to bring the Invictus into it. Suddenly the Brimorians attack and they use the black ship with the Invictus inside to come to the rescue. Alyssa is fine as she is onboard the Invictus. Between Faye, Little one, and Dana they hook up the controls of the Invictus to run the black ship.

Cignal

a theory that someone said on discord that i like is them using the dreadnaughts tractor beam and wormholeing the invictus back to maliri space, since we know thats probably how larn was getting the drakkar ships into ashanah space way back

Discord evidently? He's busy/delayed, it's going to be in the first week or so of May if I didn't completely mangle what somebody else relayed into this discussion the other day.

mark

Okay, I'm starting to get super antsy for the next chapter. I need to know the fate of the nymphs and Fay and the Invictus. Despite the massive technology advantage the Progenitor Dreadnaught has, I doubt they'll keep it, since Alyssa can't even touch the walls in it. Cue A-Team montage as Dana gets the mass fabricators back online, and they repair the Invictus enough to get it and the Dreadnaught back to Maliri space and the shipyard there?

Dave Barrack

Last day of the month and no update post or comment in this thread - is there any other info available?

Koa

F5 time again

Newnotsure

And Tefler seems to drop by for a chat every few days. Sometimes more frequent and sometimes fewer.

Cignal

Basically Larn was so full of himself that he never considered anyone but John. The girls he disregarded as just "thralls" thus disposable and unworthy of his attention and was totally fixated on John and the Emperor.

Nibbles

he was solely watching John verses Emperor ignored the rest of John's crew

B S

One thing that is bothering me to some extent as I consider it further. Didn't LK watch the Battle of Terra? Psychic abilities were being used often simultaneously, in wildly different areas. John couldn't be summoning a black hole in space to wreck the Kintark fleet while also being down on Earth smashing things there. Or running around in Earth orbit at hyperspeed smashing Royal Guard ships while also on the surface carrying out Lighting, Fire, Wind, and telekenetic attacks at once. Granted, LK may have "fixated" (on John) to some extent and failed to realize the other stuff was happening at much the same time. But he should have noticed at least some of it all the same. I'd tend to think he would have handled John a little more cautiously because of that. It also leaves me wondering about Dana and the black hole specifically, I guess I need to go back and review that chapter. But knowing John was still on Earth at the time(and I'd think LK likewise knew), how did he account for the black hole? Are Progenitors able to use thralls to "remotely" carry out Psychic attacks or something? That one in particular should have caught his attention.

mark

Hello all. Just wanted to let you know you have free access to chat on the TSM Discord channel. If you take a screenshot of your Patreon level here we can give you access to the hidden channels there as well. The URL is <a href="https://discord.gg/rWRUwf" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://discord.gg/rWRUwf</a> and talk to Rus, Cignal, or AuroraMusisAmica and we will get you squared away. The conversations there are a lot easier to follow and there is so much more to enjoy. Love to see you there! We are over 700 users there and there is usually someone on all the time. Come join us!

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

Perhaps sapience (or some other criterion or set of criteria) requires a meat (or lava) brain that cannot evolve outside the Goldilocks zone, and the Goldilocks zone is in the same place for most stars where such life evolves? That wouldn't necessarily make a 'year' *truly* universal, but it might make it universal *in practice*...? Or, more realistically, "Galactic Common" is based on the language of some planet where they've defined the word 'year' to mean a specific amount of time in terms of some universal constant. This knowledge wouldn't be particularly useful to the reader because, in day-to-day life, who cares how long a year is, really? What if a year was 200 Earth days? Then you'd have a birthday every 200 days. It only matters to us that a year is what it is because we're riding this particular blue planet around this particular yellow sun. Once we take to the stars, we might find the concept of a Solar year less useful, and redefine the word ourselves.

Wow! Double Wow!

he could say years coz. hes smart or be speaking in progen.

keen_FlattendHedgeHog

Bigdawg, Just a convenience. I readily see your point. The use of years/centuries/millennia assumes that the orbital period of the earth around the sun is universally known. However, all of the universally familiar time units are either way too small or way too big to be convenient. 1 second = 9192631770 cycles of a Cesium 133 atom or the orbital period of the Milky way = 230 million years. Humans (and other biological organisms) have very inconvenient life spans for any of the more universal time units. Even distances go from miles/kilometers to a light second (299792 km) to a light year (9.461e+12 km) to a parsec (3.26 light years). There doesn't seem to be any convenient units in the middle. Especially ones that your average reader will know. Physics can be reduced to quantum mechanics (very small) or special relativity (very large). Inconveniently biological entities really fit in neither scale.

commatoes

to Tefler...while talking to John Larn said he was 9,000 years old . I doubt Progenitors from another galaxy would be using Terran time , so wouldn't it be better for him to say I'm 9,000 of your years old ? or some equvilant phrase ?

bigdawguw65

I just realised something. The Invictus is on the planet hanging off a cliff.

Bigfoot....agree but I think it was the step by step ratcheting up...spiders /ugh....cyborg spiders/come on...Zombie cyborg spiders/ you got to be fucking kidding me...that really shows Tef brilliance &amp; comic touch .

bigdawguw65

While we patiently wait for Tefler to enchant us with more 3SM, I've been re-reading what I believe are relevant parts pertaining to the upcomong battle between John/Lionesses and the denizens of the astral plane. In doing so, I wound up reading of their introduction to the Vulkat. Can I just share Dana's response and how funny she is? ----- “Zombie cyborg spiders?!” Dana squeaked. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” ----- Love it!

Bigfoot

That’s all I wanted to know, especially with how the pace is picking up. Thanks for the update my dude.

Alphaonetango

Those kids sound like us. Lol

Grimlakin

the comments have started on "Lit" very funny seeing the reactions..

B S

From Tefler via Discord: "I'm running behind schedule at the moment. It'll be out early May sometime." April showers bring May psychic powers!

A nice action chapter with all the girls in on the fight, loved it! Hope everybody gets back on their feet and look forward to hearing how the little one saved the day.

There's no issue at all with a Progenitor influencing a Progenitor created race like the Ashanath and Trankarans. While they aren't nearly as readily influenced as the Maliri, they still are influenced to a degree by the very sight of a Progenitor. I would have used the Maliri as an example of Progenitor influence on a Progenitor created race, but a comment from Jade in this chapter seems to throw the origins of Thrall races such as the Maliri into doubt.

Jedi Khan

chapter 120 is up on lit. waiting for the screams. LOL

The shroud may be what is keeping the progenitors from being influenced in this part of the Galaxy. Perhaps they can't influenced any of the species they created as well.

Cody Strong

I see Athena as a special case. As John becomes more powerful so will she until pushes aside one of the giants in the ether dream realm and introduces a new age to the galaxy, one of hope.

DCM

You could always wait for it to be published on Lit. The extra time could be used for job hunting!

Timtom12

I love how he introduced even bigger baddies in the same chapter that we wiped out the current baddie. It could have been stretched across 2 chapters, but this was better.

Timtom12

my feeling was that Faye disconnected from her chassis "cause the Shit had hit the fan" and required all her processing eslewhere (aft section) assuming the GEO built her a backup power source she might still be in the fight with how ever many bots she has in aft section....

B S

I thought that they always could? Might be me just letting it go as just “Cum magic is magic” mode and they can all mind IM each other.

Alphaonetango

Jade might be able to make it work or she might not. Sakura pretty well demolished the bridge and the bridge crew.

Maybe this has been mentioned already, but I'm not scrolling through 500+ comments. Dana flung her arms around Jade, tears running freely down her cheeks. “Oh, Jade, I can’t believe they’re gone...” The Nymph hugged her back, crystal tears filling her emerald cat-like eyes. *I know, Dana... I know.* Jade is communicating telepathically with Dana? Since when?

Sorry to be a party-pooper, but Tef follows a pretty reliable pattern. He will post an update when the first half of the chapter (or in this case, the first half of the second half as he's making 121 a double size chapter) has gone to his editors, and he's started work on the second half. Typically, it's 5-7 days after that post that the chapter is loaded. No sign of the first 'update post' yet! Don't think we will get it by month end. Tef doesn't rush, he puts quality first....

Timbo

Its a matter of either having the part 2 payoff be on April 30th if he releases it before May 1, or the payoff being on May 31st if he posts after April. (So hopefully the money talks and we get it soon haha. :3) But its a 14 day turnaround so its not set in stone. Fingers crossed!

could we have an update please mister

Braw

Thanks guys.

David, not that I know. I am also waiting for Tefler to give us the latest and greatest info on the next chapter!

Do we have an idea on the next part of the chapter.

For me this Chapter was more of a cliffhanger (on a grander scale) than the last one. Wiping out the main (apparent) antagonist at this point was really audacious writing, raising so many questions. Plus, I am keen to see the evolution of the current Faye subplot, which I really like. And the plot against High Command, and the Brimorian and Maliri intrigues... the list goes on.

John Jameson

We still don't know the real story of Rahn, whether he is good or bad and how he'll respond to John. As disappointed as John was meeting his mother, it could be much worse if Rahn expects him to be a big, bad progenitor, you know, go into the family business. Rahn could be a progenitor traditionalist and find what John has done (three Matriarchs, giving psychic powers to "thralls", etc.,) repulsive and do everything he can to destroy John. We simply do not know yet.

Bigfoot

After reading through the chapter again and pondering a bit, I think taking out LK now and not having him be the big bad makes sense for the story. The pride's tech was so far behind his that in order to have a realistic space showdown between the two sides would've required another 20 chapters of just R and D. While I know Dana would've loved that it really would've dragged the story. Getting rid of LK now opens the doors for broader story lines with the progenitors and astral plane too. So while I was shocked the antagonist we had been focused on for so long went out like he did I think it was for the better!

Are we there yet 👀

John Doe

Just posting this to break 500. Also. Tefler. Keep it up.

Alphaonetango

I suppose it's a possibility but 1) they would no longer be Larn's thralls as his death released them just as Mael's death released the Maliri and 2) all of Larn's thralls are now empty husks. If there exists a reason to travel to the Larathyran Empire, the non-thralled Larathyrans would be free agents. Perhaps John or even his father could claim them as a means of rescue like he did with the Maliri.

Bigfoot

So are we gonna see anymore of Larn's thrall race

Dana's reaper cannons look the same but were based on pulse laser technology rather than tachyon tech. It's like the Paragon suits looking the same... :-)

Tefler

Think about it,,, If someone told you a life or death secret and then later another person confided in you the same secret, would you blurt out that you already knew and how you found out and from whom? I've seen people lose security clearances in situations like that when dealing with compartmented intel ("need to know") or the worse,, ORCON. Maybe to clarify in the Ebook rewrite it could be written that perhaps Alyssa informed Niskera of the Malari's hang-up on showing themselves and to protect Irillith and maybe even Tashana that they let the secret out is why she acted like she didn't know the secret.. In a story this large there are continuity errors all over the place and the "editors" do not see them.

Tefler - I think I mentioned I recently reread 3SM for perhaps the fifth time and I came upon what I believe to be a mistake. The mystery of the Malirir was actually revealed to the Trankarans TWICE. The first time was when Irilith accompanied the Invictus to Trankaran space to get the paid for engine designs the Trankarans didn't deliver because of their civil war. She was so flustered by John, forgot to put on her armor and was introduced as Irillith of Maliri. The second time was when the Maliri went to Trankaran space to help with the Kirrix invasion and Edraele/John/Alyssa approved their reps to remove their helmets in front of Queen Niskera (after sweeping the room). She reacted as if it were the first time the Maliri mystery was revealed to her. :)

Bigfoot

Am I getting my timeline screwed up? Didn't Dana create the reaper cannons before they had access to tachyon based weapons? 120 and 121 imply that the reaper cannons are basically squad automatic weapon variations of the tachyon rifle.

Steve

I _think_ PJ might have been trying to wear down both John and LK. After LK was killed, John would be too drained to fight PJ when he does the same thing he does every day: try to take over the world! Instead of astral monsters or a prolonged and exhausting battle: John and Alyssa both fly out of the Raptor at super speed while growing 20 meters tall in full Paragon armor. John uses his gigantic Progenitor sword to drive LK's head and its arrogant smirk in mid-sneer out of the open airlock like a badly sliced and pulverised golf ball. Alyssa stomps and smears LK's spurting and twitching corpse into deck to make sure he can't miraculously heal himself while John holds up his sword like He-Man/Duncan McCloud as the Eldritch Powers spark and swirl around them. John and Alyssa strip out of their armor and have a three-way with Jade in her dragon form while the stupefied but jubilant Thralls begin to come out of hiding like Munchkins. Ailanthia and the unenthralled Thralls celebrate LK's death with song, dance, and a festive show of tractor beams to recover the Invictus before it crashes. Yeah, see, it's too quick and there's no real angst or drama. Tefler wrote it better.

transmitters area of affect... Lilith hacking the door... Inside the psych transmitters AOE isn't right... She should of had to backup away from it.

Sparky's Wife!!!

Hell that was so worth the wait. Though I thought John would have tried using the astral plane creatures to kill him. Looks like he didn’t need to.

Stormrall

Finally had a chance to read the chapter. Dude. I mean... damn. That was GREAT!

I know this chapter was focused on a lot of other stuff, but I thought Dana should have been way more devastated at the loss of the Invictus. (As far as she knows anyway) I can only imagine that will come up in the next part. There's no way she won't be bummed about it, even having a Progenitor Dreadnought of her own to play with now.

Dave Barrack

Is there a status update for the next installment?

thomas rodrian

122 or is going to be 121 part b, I seen conflicting reports? Tefler?

OK...kind of lost for words. What a chapter! Mid-battle, i was hoping Sakura would be despatched to stop the matriarch feeding Larn with power, but come the end i was heart-broken at the death of Ailanthia. I'm upset about Faye too, but i'm hoping that is only temporary. I think this has become my new favourite chapter. Eagerly awaiting 122. Cheers Tef

doofus67

So there's a second part for this chapter coming? Jeez that's a big chapter then.

You can change your tier level for one month. Tefler's output has dropped to 1 to 2 chapters per month and 121 is a two-parter, so if up your tier amount this month you should achieve your goal.

you would need to upgrade to the next level of patronage, you can't just do it for one chapter I think

B S

Hi Guys, I am so amazed by Tefler Chapter 121 that I wished to contribute more to the Patreon pledge for this chapter. Does anyone know of a way to pledge more than current tier for a chapter?

Shree_Pratham

Bigfoot...If I was a betting man my money would be on Carmela . She wasn't in the high command structure so wouldn't have been scanned by Alyssa as to her guilt &amp; probably fell the furthest from The Big man's #2 to just another Rear Admiral . She was in position to know all the plotting Admirals &amp; is still floating around in the highest eschilions of the paper pushers &amp; virtually forgotten . A prime position to shuffle or forge papers to move troops into position &amp; KING SIZED grudge against John &amp; Lynette .

bigdawguw65

Reread TSM start to chapter 121 this weekend. Probably my fifth time through and it stands up and keeps getting better. A question came to mind upon reading chapter 119 as to who was the traitor on Olympus who is helping the three disgraced Admirals. Said traitor was said to be female so that limits the possibilities. Admiral Eleanor Maybridge could have a desire for Alyssa exposing her abortion and Admiral Lina Van Den Broeck because her Propaganda division was shut down. Neither of those really seem like plausible reasons so I'm forced to think outside the box and ask whatever happened to Buckingham's pet, Rear Admiral Carmela Moreno? Last I remember, she was at the Citidel during the Battle of Terra but abandoned Buckingham along with everyone else just before he was killed. She would harbor a grudge against the Lion. Is it possible she's at Olympus?

Bigfoot

--- By the time the black door slid open and the irritated thrall finally left the room, --- change to --- By the time the black door opposite slid open and the irritated thrall finally entered the corridor, --- just to be completely clear. :)

Bp Hlpt

--- There was a started exclamation from inside the room as the door juddered, --- "startled" instead of "started" and remove comma after "juddered"

Bp Hlpt

After entering the hangar, she changed back to her Nymph shape, dumping the girls on the floor. Her shifting got rid of the damaged wing, so no more injury.

Jedi Khan

It's mentioned a few paragraphs later we have Sakura moving up to the doors leading out of the hangar: "The assassin nodded, then padded across the hangar to join the huge armoured tiger at the door. "

Jedi Khan

It's probably the other half of the Invictus. Little One did display a list of actions taken and one of them was a docking maneuver with the back half. It could be that the "docking" was simply to have the two halves next to each other, but not necessarily in the normal configuration.

Jedi Khan

--- The armoured panels covering the crystal window were crushed and buckled, letting her see the white surface of the object that had just crashed into the ship. --- What object? There hadn't been any mention so far of anything crashing into the Invictus except the beam that cut it in half. The Raptor maybe?

Bp Hlpt

Also, did it need to be mentioned that Jade healed herself, or was healed by Alyssa or Rachael, after she had her wing torn on entering the hanger? Maybe not, but again, you usually mention those things.

Bp Hlpt

Hey Tef, I think I found a very slight inconsistency or omission. When Jade first enters the black ship's hanger, she dumps the girls out, shrinks down to normal size, hugs and commiserates with Dana, gets soothed by Helene, etc. Then a couple of pages later we see -- Jade took up a defensive crouch, lightning crackling around her claws as she watched the sealed entrances to the hangar for the first sign of thralls. -- so she must have changed into dragon or tiger form, but no mention of the transformation was made. I don't know that you need to explicitly mention each time she changes, but AFAIK you always have, so...

Bp Hlpt

what a chapter..... so love this story

Taco1085

Bloody fantastic chapter.

Very true. I've rejigged that a bit. I played FFVII a load, but that's it. :)

Tefler

A slight ordering issue: “Larn’kelnar’s almost completely tapped out too... those obelisks all faded away and then Jade ripped his arm off”. John’s recollection is incorrect, as Jade attacked first, the beams then hit Jade once, THEN the obilisks disappeared. BTW, Tefler, ever played FFX?

Big Orca

Awesome chapter, as per usual, Tefler. I'm interested to see how loose ends get tied up. Cheers!

ETNSosa

That was an awesome chapter! Slip, slop, gobble and down went the Lionesses! Thank you, Tefler, for using Jade sort of like Grumpy the T-Rex in "Land of the Lost" to save the girls from asphyxia or getting turned into a Candy Apple Sangre metal flake slurry when LK shook up the Raptor to knock out John, then shot them into outer space. That was hilarious and totally brilliant! It would be inconceivable! (Princess Bride) if Faye had to be rebooted because the GEO can build a Kirrix-to-TFed adapter but can't figure out how to hook up a UPS to a server… it’s probably time to learn how to change all of the default passwords and codes, then rearrange runes so no one can pull a simple Kirk/Wrath of Khan and shut down the ship -- “I did _nothing_! Except get caught with my pants down!” Speaking of pants down: John needs a special flap for the front of his Paragon armor so that when everyone takes off their helmets for hugs and kisses in the middle of the next battle they can all take turns giving him blow jobs and make him forget trivial and unimportant stuff like growing 20 meters tall, then stomping out an entire ancient Kirrix hive. _Assuming_ the Invictus does survive re-entry and ‘landing’, poor Dana is going to have her work cut out for her to reflow all of the structural materials and temporary repairs so the entire ship isn’t held together with gaffer’s tape and trick line while John and Alyssa try to fix the armor on the hull. Spacedocks? We don’t need no stinkin’ spacedocks! I’m confused with the characterization of John’s mother in this chapter because Jessica was basically nothing more than a helpless and incompetent cipher. Apparently, abandoning John and her family is worse than murdering her fellow shipmates and stealing a ship to get back to her loving Rahn, to heck with the hidebound TFed authorities that want her and the surviving families of her murdered teammates. Did every single the armory in Rahn's wrecked ship get so completely annihilated that Jessica never learned even basic Thrall skills with combat armor, Reaper cannons and pistols or did she really and truly spend the last forty years as a garden-tending cum-balloon while she and Rahn' made gooey goo-goo eyes at one another? Eeewww…. Yeah, sure, John wants to wuv his missing amnesiac mummy even though she’s an enthralled homicidal sociopath. Several people that really should know better just freed the Progenitor that enthralled her but, like, Dude! How about finding out what’s on dear old daddy-Rahn’s mind BEFORE taking off the unbreakable magical handcuffs and letting him out of his cell while John still has zero clue about using Progenitor powers? At this point, John’s a menace to himself and everyone around him while he plays fast and loose with his powers. He created or summoned a Progenitor sword with powerful runes that he can’t read or understand. What happens when he summons the equivalent of an M18 Progenitor Claymore mine but he can’t read the runes embossed on it that say, “FRONT TOWARD ENEMY”? :-O

I had imagined that Dana would be the key to getting an edge on the ship weapons and armor, with her original enhancement allowing her to improve on the progenitor blueprints. Not so sure now.

Jeff P

I completely forgot about this. Dana's origin at Tartarus has not been full explained yet or possible it is considered settled. I am rereading 3SM and every talented Lioness has received a degree of formal training (Calara, Rachel, Irrilith) or unconventional (Sakura, Tashana). Dana seems to be the only natural savant (knew about machines from a young age) and was self taught to the point of being unusually skilled. I wonder if this distinction between her and the other girls is relevant or will be explained in the remaining chapters.

commatoes

It's been discussed that the Shroud might be blocking somehow the influence of the Astral beings on their Progenitors , but nothing definite from Tef , yet .

bigdawguw65

I wonder if a Soul Forge consumes the thralls, like old blacksmiths used to believe that quenching a sword in a living body imbued that sword with power. If that's the case, then there is no way to remove the tortured psychic imprints.

CJ Mora

He created it... but I'll make that a bit clearer.

Tefler

hi everyone, i'm wondering if the psychic freedom that larn is talking about is the same as the shroud of the kirix.

gary jackson

Ok Tefler, I concede defeat on all fronts. I felt affronted by what I considered logic holes at the end of chapter 120, and your answers left more doubt as further logic holes to my mind were revealed. Suspension of belief was my only option. This is the only chapter I have read 3 times, to take it all in (including latest edits). I feel child-like in the shadow of your story telling capacity. To quote someone else on the thread "I stated on the edge of my seat, and ended on the edge several seat over". Masterful is a massive understatement, but the best I can come up with.

Can the invictus fit inside the black ship so that the repairs can be done while en route via wormhole

Benj

Mael created the nymphs. Larn did not know of their existence. What about Rahn? Ideas?

Benj

Well hopefully we will learn about that in the next chapter. In like 10 long days lamo.

Alphaonetango

another set of questions , how did Larn know of Rahn ? how did he find him? Did he start to investigate John after he saw him in Ashanta territory , even though he ignored him at the time? Did he have his spy Lynton look into him after telling her to leave him alone ? Did he suspect another Progenitor was still around that sired John? &amp; why , if he knew of his existence did he wait so long to capture him?

bigdawguw65

What if "Little One" used the Valkyrie's engines to arrest the Invictus' fall and get LEO.. well low Arcadia orbit.

So I was thinking...

Page 69: "...leapt towards the fleeting Progenitor"...should be fleeing, not fleeting.

Jedi Khan

Also, where did Larn get the water to douse the flames on his arm after John cut his hand off?

Jedi Khan

Got an edit for you. Page 55, the new line from Edraele: Edraele sounded terrified as she blurted out, “John! My girls!* Started with a quote ended with an asterisk.

Jedi Khan

Tefler, a number of people seem to have missed your comment a few days ago about making 121 a double chapter. It might help to edit the post itself with that info, that way it's more readily available without having to dig through hundreds of comments to find it.

Jedi Khan

Great thanks

Tef has commented on this. Apparently he has to do a lot of extra re-formatting and fiddling about to set a book up for paperback, and it’s a pain in the ass. I’m pretty sure he’s said he’ll do all the books eventually, but I suspect it will lag way behind until the main story - here - is finished. Then I guess he’ll have a 6 month respite or so to get everything caught up on amazon, hopefully including the printed versions. Then the sequel starts..... 😉

Timbo

I have asked this several times but never really got a definitive answer. The books on amazon the first two we can get in paper back but the last couple are kindle only. Can we get the rest of the series in paper back by chance or at least a possible eta when paper will be available if at all.

Wait this is just part one? If so.... Second part is out sooner hmmmmmm...

Alphaonetango

Thanks very much for the edits! I'm really glad you enjoyed the chapter, I'm pleased with how it turned out. :)

Tefler

Spoiler much? :) That hasn't changed since the initial posting. Also, I don't think "condescending" means what you think it means in this case.

mark

Ch. 121 Part 1 is the most liked Chapter/Announcement in the history of the TSM Patreon! Congrats Tefler on an incredible chapter and this wonderful story you've told!

Guys, just now I completed it after being out of network zone for few days and think Mr Tefler have done some edit by changing the end. Larn'kelner is dead and the ship with its shuttle is now John's property. Though he can share the shuttle to Rahn'. The guide has now started condescending with John's views and he may turn out to be proper guide with sharing all knowledge of soulforge and old progenitor data &amp; John and Alisha et all will start to clear the water muddied so far by Larn'kelner. Going to complete the story by 125th episode Mr. Tefler.

One interesting thought about the ‘black metal’. If the way forward proves to be a new ship, ‘Invictus Rex’ or maybe Invictus re-skinned in Dana’s version of the black metal, we have the whole psychic imprint property, only with a clean sheet, as it were. Imagine Invictus either constructed from, or covered with new psycho - imprintable metal (of whatever colour it turns out when Dana has finished with it). As they use it, it will imprint just as the back metal did, with everyday emotions. In other words, it would be imprinted with love. And that’s what a psychic person would read out from it....

Timbo

...which HAS to be white once finished... John &amp; co would not look like avenging angels rocking up to Brimor in black... no way Jose!

Welp as always. Waiting on the next chapter Tefler, you just write in such a way to reach my weird syfi haram spot that always needed to be poked at.

Alphaonetango

Great Chapter. Fast paced and with a lot of drama and exceptional ending. Thank you.

Rick Barker

Automating a Dreadnaught is not as simple as plugging a couple of "Clappers" I'm sure it took a considerable amount of time &amp; effort by the T Fed crews to set up the much smaller Invictus after it was decommissioned . Then there is the lack of the amenities they have gotten use to (huge bed, Lagoon, Dojo, Dana's workshop, etc etc . also I think John would get lost in a galley meant to feed thousands . I think they will stick with the repaired &amp; updated Invictus for now &amp; let Dana design her replacement from scratch . They still have to figure out what a "Soul Forge" is &amp; how to make the black metal if they can .

bigdawguw65

I doubt the team will keep Larn's ship. The whole place reeks of death, misery, and pain. Just being on the ship gives Alyssa the willies.

Jedi Khan

The Invictus was automated so just John and Alyssa could operate it. How do we know the same cannot be done to Larn's (now John's ) ship. They could use it to clean up the issues around their space and then save it for future problems. After all, Rahn's ship was crashed on Arcadia for what...10,000 years...and the cloaking device still worked among other things. The question of Rahn's loyalties and PJ's continuing status have to be resolved. One point too...Jessica reacted strangely in Ch. 120 to Rahn being talked about as his father, so is that another surprise coming? Then there is the notion Mael is old Jonah...any takers? Questions...questions!!!! Typical Tefler teasers just making things more interesting!!!!

Arrowglass

yup that's gonna be funny as !! If they want to keep up they can pay up like the rest of us....lol

B S

the Raptor is outside the hanger....you have misread it mate.

B S

I just re-read 120 so I can read 121 again and noticed something that really spoiled 121 for me...when chapter 120 ended, "He waved a dismissive hand at the Raptor and it tumbled towards the hangar door, then through the atmospheric shielding, exposing the handful of thralls within to the vacuum of space." (In other words, they're already out of the hanger, in space.) However, the first paragraph of this chapter has the girls looking across the hanger to make sure Larn and the thralls are gone. WTF?? I'm calling a STORY FOUL!! No cheating allowed! Either they're in space, or they're not! You gotta fix this, Tef!! To spoil such a fantastic and epic story with "phone it in" cliffhanger like that, one where the plot magically fixes itself, is heartbreaking!

CJ Mora

Maybe he wanted to test how John would grow up under the seeming protection of the Shroud , if he would become another typical despot or maybe a better version of a Progenitor . He didn't know that the T Fed had the information to find them , so I don't know how he intended to check up his experiment , if that what he was He should still have the Corvette that Jessica stole &amp; the means to equip it like the Invictus . Maybe this galaxy was his inheritance to his son &amp; he , Rahn ,was happy to retire &amp; live a peaceful life after centuries of death &amp; destruction .

bigdawguw65

The next real question (in my mind) is to figure out why Rahn sent Jessica back to Terra to give birth to his son and then leave. Could he somehow know the future, that John would be the one to rescue him from Larn or is there still a bigger piece to the puzzle? Perhaps a Progenitor inheritance of some sort???

Bigfoot

But going there means being outside the protection of the shroud, which means being subjected to even more pressure from the Astral Entities.

mark

That or Kharon. I guess Kharon could be where The Shroud is based.

mark

Like LK's empire being prime for the taking, possibly by RH if he can manage to figure out the shroud?

mark

There are still a lot of lose threads that could take all kinds unforseen directions.

JollyRodger

Also,... How long until the next guy comes here looking for trouble? I would guess not as long as before. John has not played nice with his races astral puppet masters. They are not happy with him, i would guess even less so now. They are eventually going to tire of messing around and send some real trouble their way.

JollyRodger

Depending on exactly how daring they want to be, there is a whole host of new options open to them. There is now a whole empire full of empty progenitor black ships waiting to be salvaged. Probably 2 wormholes to get to new parts of the universe. A whole quadrant of space now ready for someone to move into.

JollyRodger

He's got one, but it requires far more crew than he has to spare (unless Faye can pull more copies out) and it has no internal security system. So it's in need of significant modification.

John P

Now John has a prognitor Black ship readily available to him now. No need to build one.

Love conquerd all, thank f***.

If the pace of action in this chapter had been maintained throughout, you could have brought TSM in under 500,000 words. Excellent chapter, good highs and lows, interesting new revelations. Nice segment with Little one.Perhaps your best chapter since the one with Jade’s death.

Dave2282

I have a different take on what we've seen so far . I think there is a world/empire of highly physic people that some how attract the attention of the Astral beings &amp; they recruit young impressionable males with promises of unlimited power &amp; woman if they become their agents . After screening &amp; training the successful candidates are unleashed to conquer &amp; destroy ( to what purpose is debatable ) . It would seem that this area of space has some screening from the Astral beings &amp; after awhile any Progenitor that comes here welcomes a sense of peace &amp; reverts to a more balanced being . Maybe the Progenitors are only such dicks because they are being ordered/tortured to be by their Astral Lords , maybe?

bigdawguw65

Can't wait to see Dana pull apart the wormhole generator and essentially fuck up the Brimorians day when they try to invade.

Jacob

The sadistic part of me is going to enjoy the poop-storm in the comments on Lit after he posts CH 120 on there. I might pop a bag of popcorn.

Godzilla511

I don't have the words.AWESOME

Dragon

Thanks Tefler for not playing a Game of Thrones on us🤗

Stuhero

I don't think Rahn has any intention of leaving this galaxy. He has hung out incognito on that planet for 10k years. I'm sure he has had ample opportunity to leave over the years. At least twice that we know of he could have left on Jessica's ship.

prsstarid

Don't forget PJ is still loose and riding the back seat again.

Why do I feel we haven’t seen the last of Larn’Kelnar? And what will Rahn’hagon and John do - team up?

TexanInParis

wow, what a chapter! The aftermath of this one is going to take a couple chapters to settle ;-)

Tom Vrancken

It’s a hook for the sequel, not 3SQM. Sorry... :-)

Timbo

And this is why it is important to read the fine print :P

Just came across this post about copyright and pattern and thought it might be relevant to you. <a href="https://jvanstry.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-patreon-licensing-agreement.html?m=1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://jvanstry.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-patreon-licensing-agreement.html?m=1</a>

Malthe Mørk Mejlby

Great chapter, Tefler !!!!

I don't see how the cleaning robot could have enough processing power to run Little One's AI. I think he's running on the progenitor server just like Faye... maybe Faye even isolated one of her own processing streams and gave it independent memory and storage so it could grow its own personality. In any case I think Faye is either still there in the digital realm issuing those instructions that Little One was executing, unable to summon her own chassis since it's on the other half of the ship (perhaps communication lines were severed or her chassis got stuck or ejected into space before the halves were reunited), and she doesn't want to waste time or power on projecting a hologram. Or she gave Little One his todo list and intentionally shut her own processing streams down to give Little One access to more power and processing resources. In any case I fully expect Dana and Irrilith to be able to get her back online, even if they have to canibalize some parts from the black ship(s) to make it happen.

WOW what an exciting chapter, i hope the little one gets Faye back online, no i see she was smart backing her self up in little ones core. This was very intense with every one getting put on the ropes. with little one putting Invictus put back together and saving the sisters.

Glenn Hunter

Unless they're totally tapped out I expect Rachel healed them while John was off dealing with LK

Future scene ... "Hello Niskera, I'd like to introduce you to Ranagon the Despoiler. His name is actually Rahn’hagon or, as I know him, daddy".

ringill

So Larn was just a red herring. The real enemy is in the mist.

Same here. Lol

My thinking is that Ch 121 did zero justice to the story development of Ch 1 to 120. I did see that Tef was going to expand 121 by end of April and remain anxious to see how that works out!

36h post script.

Great chapter... Wow... Besides all the other questions and possibilities others have posed... What happened to the planet the twin was rescued from? Where it had a built in weapons system activated by that " key" that was found? I don't ever remember that getting fleshed out.. it seemed like at the time the guy that took over had a plan once the system was activated. .

King James

Only one thing seemed off to me in this chapter. With 6 of his girls badly injured, would Johns first thought be to speak with his father, or to load up Jade to heal his girls asap.

andrew finlayson

Some chapters I sip on like a sweet goblet of wine, savoring every paragraph and taking my time. This one went down like a frothy pint of beer. Crisp, satisfying, and savage. I could not put it down. We readers, all the fans, wondered what thrall strategy would win in the end? Yet we all knew it was quality over quantity. We just wanted to see it for ourselves, and we wanted victory to be both a singular achievement and yet a victory that justified John and his Lionesses on every level. This is what was achieved. Tefler, congratulations on a magnificent chapter. You have outdone yourself again sir, and I really thought that could not happen. Spoilers ahead. Originally, Alyssa wore the only suit of white Paragon armor they happened to have. However, they took the effort to transfer it over to Sakura. Yet in the end, as they strove to rescue John, who was going to appear all in white? As Athena did in his nightmares? Alyssa Marant. Just seeing how that shaped up gave me the absolute chills and I sat there reading and grinning like a damned idiot because I knew it was going to be a thunderously good chapter. I felt like a cheapskate reading it for only ten bucks, haha. I didn't even know how good it was going to get. You didn't even need to ham it up about how she was wearing white. It didn't matter, she was swept aside by Larn'kelnar instantly. We got more than we could have ever guessed at. Giant chitinous constructs. Spinning hex shields. Double taps. Disemboweled thralls. Gory lances through the thigh. Not one, not two, but three disintegration matrixes, and a spinning lance that grows spikes. Even our old buddy PJ, being his usual dick self AND getting told to go fuck himself. Every one of John's girls contributing to victory. Faye's baby saving the freaking Invictus's occupants and almost certainly Faye herself. No one really knows just how smart Faye made her little construct. The debrief alone is going to make chapter 122 a thick read. I can't wait. I don't know how you do it. I sit here in awe just trying to capture in words what I think you have done over these past 121 chapters. Frank Herbert. Robert Heinlein. I liked their ideas, but I dunno Tef, I'd rather read Three Square Meals!

Hinterlands Man

+1

Idaho Spud56

Just wow. The last bit with Ailanthia was quite sad though.

Thanatos95

Awesome battle ! i can't wait for the next chapter, and especially the conversation with blakes father.

André Lange

Hell. The series could end here. Really seems like a climax.

Still a cliffhanger, but much less frustrating of one than last chapter's.

Nick_Fel

Well there's always the possibility of using Larns ship to fix Rahn's, or building a soul forge (whatever that is). Between the three ships (despite their range of conditions), Rahn, and the understanding John has with his guide I bet they can put something together to leave Arcadia with.

Nick_Fel

Let's assume the Invictus is not salvageable and John&amp;Co make Larn's ship their new home. Will Alyssa be able to deal with it?

Bigfoot

Tefler is English

rich ed

Cool story bro, I liked it! *wins understatement of the year award* I’ll respond more fully when I have a chance.

Hinterlands Man

I hadn't considered that but between the sword and how bewildered his guide and Larn were over how powerful the girls were, not to mention the powers Larn had never seen, it would make sense that it hearkens back to a noble more powerful species of progenitors that were corrupted somehow. How that plays into the area of space they are in, perhaps even the shroud, how can say :) But I'm sure I'm far from the only one that is itching for the next chapter!

Wow!! I've read many many fight scenes over the years and not only was this the longest but the most riveting. I didn't even realize I'd arrived at the end of the chapter until I couldn't scroll any further. I was anxious to see how you'd conclude the confrontation between Larn and John and I have to say I was satisfyingly surprised. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how John and Rahn interact and to see how things progress. I seriously doubt John will keep the dreadnought what with the psychic echoes. Hopefully his guide will stop being a douche and unlock the rest of his knowledge.

I have to say this alludes to John's way actually being the old way for progenitors. I think those astral titans forced a cultural change on the progenitors to weaken and control them. John occasionally taps into something even his guide doesn't understand.

Sean Miller

She has to activate her powers. She wasn't even on edge when it happened, so it's not the same as one of the battles. If you look back their powers all have to be activated consciously except under certain conditions. Her powers worked exactly as they have in the past. They've never unintentionally activated when she was in a relaxed state.

Sean Miller

I think there are issues to discuss regarding Calara in all this Ch 120 &amp; 121 - her talent is not being addressed here at all properly. It's one thing to have her powers used AFTER the attacks on the Invictus, but what about BEFORE the attack on the Invictus? At the very least, some level of explanation for why her talents failed everyone is needed.

GrandPaM

I think there's a whole lot more yet to be told.

Joe Waldvogel

If all of his kids are progenitor's then will they be outside the Matriarch energy network or linked to it until a certain age or event?

prsstarid

Loved the new chapter. Sadly, if I'm reading this right, it means we're coming to the end though...

Ironage Photography

But the shroud is not in the Terran part of the galaxy, it is in the Kirrix part. Do you really think that its that big?

prsstarid

Okay, I have a lot to say. Really good resolution to the story so far, but I'm hoping this is just the closing of Act 2. It feels like it needs one more story arc to truly be complete. That said, they absolutely should NOT get the Invictus back! Saving the nymphs and Faye is fine, as we all know this story is all about the good guys winning and the bad guys being incinerated, but even so there needs to be a sense of loss for the victories to mean anything. Losing their home is a fitting sacrifice for that. POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING It seems to me that the rest of the story will focus more on the astral monsters. As Larn said, they couldn't control progenitors in this region of space - possibly related to the Shroud? - and we've seen that the lack of their influence makes progenitors be less douchey: Mael'nerak became a decent guy, Rahn'hagon just left everyone alone to be with his new squeeze, even Larn'kelnar genuinely started having feelings for Ailanthia. I think Rahn'hagon will become an ally going forth, at the very least providing a lot of exposition about the progenitors' native part of space.

LK evidently didn't know as much as either MN or RH did as progenitors, so no AI being present isn't completely shocking. It will be interesting to see if the pending encounter with RH can explain what was going on with respect to that. Particularly if you were paying attention to the little detail that LK was only 8,000-ish years old. MN and RH had concluded their battles a couple thousand years before LK was even around. It might be that the Astral presence has done some additional tampering with the remaining Progenitors under their control since then.

mark

Yup, no resolution regarding Faye, RH still hasn't been found, and the situation in T-Fed space is unresolved. Although John's Quality vs Quantity approach certainly had its payout in a very big way this chapter.

mark

There’s a weird problem, cos my chapter ended before the chat with Rahn happened, situation with PJ was resolved and the invictus was fixed...tried F5 but it doesn’t work......*off to look for pitchfork* :D

WOW!, just Freaking WOW! What an EPIC Chapter. Two Progenitors with a narrow but deep network, much better than a Progenitor with a very wide but shallow network. I think John might have accidentally set the bar for the new power paradigm.

VycronDyz

Yeeees! Now...Talk with Dad

Ken Ridley

That's a good point about Ailanthia, she'd definitely do that. I'll make a tweak to include her making that offer. PJ never had any intention of letting LK go and John knew what he was planning. Alyssa would have had to spend considerable amount of time trying to break into LK's mind, like he was trying to do to RH. They might have considered doing that, but emotions were running high... (and PJ would have interceded to kill him anyway).

Tefler

The resolution seemed wrong to me. Aila would have felt Larn’s life was more important than her own and she would gladly sacrifice her own life for his. John wouldn’t have simply let Larn go without at least gelding him to insure Larn’s thrall-able days are over. (And John would want Alyssa to read Larn’s mind first: to find all the hidden secrets about about Progenitors, more details on the astral creatures, and to archive Larn’s full history for future reference.)

The questionof what to do with bad guide John is foremost on my mind. It seems they worked well together in dispatching Larn’kelnar and John proved his method of enhancing his "thralls" (by promoting a few to matriarch and giving them psychic abilities beyond the normal "battery life of a thrall") is the way to be. Or at least the better way to exist as a progenitor. Perhaps the biggest fight for John (and bad guide John AND Athena AND the girls) will be in the astral realm where they'll fight the monsters that control it. Could that be the ultimate fight in TSM?

Bigfoot

Another damn great chapter, was worried at the end of the previous one.

donald abbott

I don't think I could have stood it being spread over multiple chapters - I'd have no fingernails left! Anyway, there are enough plotlines still to deal with: meeting with dad, dealing with PJ, rescuing Faye &amp; the nymphs, sorting the Invictus, Dana requisitioning new tech from the black ship &amp; integrating it, soul forge... that's likely all to come before they leave &amp; head back...

That's evil Ringill... love it! I reckon Dana will take every bit of tech she can but fit to a repaired Invictus instead of requisitioning the Prog. dreadnaught. Or maybe even take the dreadnaught with the Invictus inside &amp; jump back to terran space! Let's not forget however that there's no crew to operate the Prog. ship...

So this was the comment right below the chapter when I downloded it... and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time expecting that PJ would cut off Alyssa again.

With Alyssa so badly affected with the old Prog ships I don't expect them to stay on it long...

That could be true &amp; answers some questions but I believe the Kirrix Queens hinted that Mael created it &amp; if he could why wouldn't other Progenitors do it ?&amp; it doesn't stop Physic powers of Progenitors/John's girls /Ashanta/Vulcat or Bolsans . We do know they can't pass back into this realm without drawing power from this side (attack at the Lake) LK was stunned John went into the Astral plane voluntarily &amp; from what he said they could draw Progenitors to them when they sleep except here ,Maybe John's higher connection makes him more vulnerable or easier to track &amp; is why when he establishes the deeper connection with the third feeding they can reach him. We still don't know how or from where they are originally recruited . Another question for KH?

bigdawguw65

One word - WOW!!! Tefler you did it again - Amazing chapter - one of your best so far! So now John owns a Prog Ship with all the tech that was not destroyed or melted yet- and some areas that need to be repaired. Wow!!! If his old ship was powerful - how much more so is his new one? Will he keep it? Can he add Fay AI to the ship AI? How does he get the “bad guide John” back in prison - or is now the John vs Guide fight next?

David B

Now i think i understand the shroud more, what its doing to the Kirrix is also blocking the astral monsters. that explains why Larn said he like being free of them since coming to this part of the galaxy and his part of it is over run with them.

Loved the chapter. I had hoped you use several chapters to accomplish what you did in one but I'm glad you did it this way. Thanks

thomas rodrian

YO TEFLER YOU REDEEMED YOSELF SON!!!!

After a day to digest the chapter and plans to read it again a couple times, I am reminded of a movie review I read an indeterminate time ago. From the beginning, I was on the edge of my seat. By the end, I was on the edge of the seat next to me.

commatoes

Wasn't Alyssa looking for a weapon to rival John's sword in the last few chapters? I look forward to seeing how she weilds Larn's staff in the coming chapters (or a Dana-enhanced version in white).

DCM....have to agree the deaths of two of the most innocent characters , one a new mom (Faye) &amp; the other expecting (Ailanthia) was unsettling . I'm hoping "little one" can save his mother &amp; the rest of the Nymph's &amp; the Invictus.

bigdawguw65

I too assume (yeah yeah) that the cause was one of the great battles of Mael'nerak. Probably the first one, the one he survived and changed his opinion of his Matriarch. The reason the Krillik stopped being able to reproduce without mass murder is probably the same which liberated him ( and maybe Rahn'agon, we'll see )

Faralis

Now that PJ is freed a lot of questions , will he be able to draw power from John's Matriarchs? He discarded Alyssa &amp; might not be able to &amp; Jade is dedicated on a different level as a nymph, but he originally took Edraele so can he use her &amp; her girls? Can RH control him since he created him to be John's guide ? With Jessica seeming hesitation when they asked if RH was John's father is another shock awaiting us? What was RH's plan this whole time in sending John off to be raised on Terra ?One of the things I love about this story &amp; Tef's writing , it keeps us on our toes &amp; engaged while we wait for the next Chapter .

bigdawguw65

Tefler, this was an amazing addition to what has been my favorite work of prose, ever. I want you to have the financial freedom to create any thing you want. I just doubled my contribution per chapter. Go ahead, write it. I will read...

Jim Liebenstein

Excited to finally watch the meeting with Larn’kelnar and Jessica coming around, and the unknown of meeting Dad. Very neat to have room in this epic chapter to see that there is life on the Invictus, in fact the staff is trying to save it! Worried about Faye, but which aspect of Faye, her body, her server, her programming, it’s overwhelming! Find myself deeply sadden by the death of Ailanthia. It is not often a pregnant woman is killed. It is unsettling.

DCM

A few notes (wish list) for next chapter: (1) black box reveal; (2) dna tests; (3) complete universe hack; (4) Brimorian update; (5) Is Arcadia the new nymph homeword? (6) Rill's upgrade; (7) will John's dad hate the Malari? (8) why doesn't John have siblings?

Benj

Once again you leave me wanting more lovely work Sir

This very well may be my favorite chapter. BRAVO!!!

Bigfoot

As a sidenote, I got two requests. Firstly, I would like a thrall art chart depicting the 3,4?, known thrall species that had been mentioned throughout the series. It helps to picture them in my head for the skin tone and hair color. Secondly, with all the new details so far about the astral baddies, we seriously need a short spinoff of one or two chapters as a prequel showing how THEY came into existence and tying up how/why they are using the progenitors as playtoys.

I just gotta say, my favorite part of this whole chapter is that it resembles another old favorite of mine. "but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not." His LOVE for his girls is the reason they survived and opened a can a' whup-ass.

Hoolyy shit what a chapter. I gobbled that up like a starving man at a buffet. And now the wait for the next chapter continues..

Tefler, an Absolutely F***ing Awesome Chapter! I was glad to see a battle between Progenitors versus a major space battle that would have killed many folks that John has grown to care a lot about. At this point I do not feel that he is prepared for that kind of outcome, perhaps later. I don’t do “dischord”, so I post my edits here and hope that either you or LunarLilith will see them and then do with them what you will. A few suggested edits for Chapter 121; are as follows: Page 8: Slumping in his restraints, John was left with no other option then (than) to wait for either the girls to find some way of freeing him,; Page 34: Fortunately(,) none of them had crossed paths with her group yet,; Page 37: adjusting her grip as she wait(ed) for the reinforced door to open.; Page 37: , then funnelled that into (the) her twin swords.; Page 38: Astounded by the new lows she could drop the arctic (sub-zero) temperatures, Sakura; Page 39: After he retired, he work(ed)ing as a trader for over a decade,; Page 57: His (He) clutched a glowing sceptre in his right hand,; Page 63: He point(ed) the scepter (sceptre) at a cluster of cracked hexagons over John’s leg; Page 69: Larn’kelnar looked at him through horror(-)stricken eyes,; Page 70: she collapsed on the floor, her body nothing more than a dried(-)out husk.; As always, if you disagree, I completely understand. Good luck with Chapter 122. Thank you and Cheers!

Another great chapter, though I have to say, my favorite part is with Faye's bots putting the ship back together as its tumbling from orbit. The way it was presented a to-do list was inspired, but I can see the scene in my head play out like a movie as the bots get to work; the reactors coming back online, the two parts of the hull beginning to despin and maneuver closer to each other, occasionally interspersed with shots of math and trajectories to "show the work" as it were, to the audience, and hint to them the processing power it's taking to manage all the tasks at once. Then as the two pieces of the ship match up, doorways on both sides open up to reveal hulking maintenance bots dragging massive pylons that they slam down and being bolting and welding into place. If I was a billionaire, I would have my own private team of Korean animators to render cool shit like this on a whim for me. My only disappointment in the chapter is that there weren't more cutaways to the Invictus, but I assume that will be addressed in the next chapter, (or the next half of this one.)

Dave Barrack

Well I certainly wasn't expecting that on the back of 120, I think it took longer to read than the actual events taking place! One heck of a chapter, err half a chapter anyway with all sorts of things like the Nymphs, Faye, assorted bots and the Invictus to sort out not to mentions whatever is about to hit the fan back at Olympus. The thought occurs though they've just 'inherited' a ship that can jump about a bit so they may rock up in various places faster than people expect! Plus, as Sean said above, did we just find out what the Shroud was actually created for and the effect on the Kirrix was simply collateral damage? I'm also now looking forward to 120 getting published on Lit and watching the head explody that's bound to occur, even more so than here, safe in the knowledge of knowing what comes next and that they'll have to wait longer for the extended 121 (evil smiley).

ringill

So, the astral titans are weaker in this part of the galaxy. Maybe that has something to do with the shroud and why progenitors keep fighting over the territory.

Sean Miller

We can only hope.

For some reason, evil john reminded me of venom. The next episode may resolve both the father and his parasite.

Benj

So the Big Bad is the Astro Plane monster. John will have to fight his guide to get full control to be beat it. Really looking forward to that. Also now they have a Proginator ship, how cool is that.

Last chapter was awesome!

Steven Allen

That..... was full on.. Awesome... just awesome....

The red wedding made HBO use GOT as a TV show, This chapter could do the same for Tefler

Mick Peaper

I get the sense that LK was only a minor bad guy in the grand scheme of things. Hopefully we'll see an even more epic showdown later this year.

Steve

LK drained all his thralls of their life force (in the hundreds of thousands), I do not think that is the same thing as saying he drained every larathryan. His empire still exists, just lacks his leadership and his elite soldiers.

Steve

Tefler, Dried-Out has a hyphen, according to my American MS Word. Page 70.

After I read this chapter last night I was pumped up to leave a comment about how great it was and decided to look through the comments already showing before writing mine. I was very disappointed and depressed to put it mildly to read the comment explaining that the " sequel " is not about John and the girls, it is just in the same universe with a few characters of this story as background. I have never been in a rush to see this series end even when I thought the " sequel " was to be about John and company, now I am starting to dread the end of this storyline. So sitting here depressed now, great chapter Tefler.

Nonconformist

Great Job, looking forward to the next writing!

Best chapter yet! Definitely redeems the last cliffhanger lo,... Just an fyi.... I personally despise cliffhangers, so not like this in stories, TV shows or movies but that's just me :)

I gotta say I’m a touch disappointed. the show down between John and Larn was epic and both suffered sufficient blows it kinda sucked to see the progenitor threat dealt with so quickly. Maybe I missed something and I’m sure you have something big planned but I thought this was gonna be a little more drawn out. I saw much of it going this way with John and crew surprising Larn and outmaneuvering him just enough he would have to retreat. Once again back to the shadows and more wary he would learn more about John and how he set up his psychic network that way he wouldn’t be surprised again but meanwhile John would confront his guide gain new psychic powers for him and progress the girls powers to match larn’s Eldritch might. Also by this time I figured all the fleets would be finally geared up to finally have one great big space battle against Larn and his ship where somewhere in the middle of that they would have there huge final showdown. I just saw this so clearly in my head but you have other plans that I’m still excited to see. I guess what really bums me out though is that Larn was just an egotistical overestimated prick that John and crew have fought over and over up till now. I wanted more development there. But anyways still really looking forward to the next chapter dying to see what John finally learns of his heritage.

Randell J Leefoon

Thank you for great chapter Tef! It was worth the wait! 😁👍

BFCP79

superb

Puts away pitchfork and takes out wallet.

Anonamoose

The best chapter yet. We stll have many threads left, but this was devastatingly satisfying.

Benj

Tefler has a couple of threads to clear up still. There is the big one, the Brimorians about the Abandoned and then there is the hit squads going after Calara's mother and Charles and Lynette. He said book 2 will deal with the Enshunu and sounds like the Astro Plane monsters who are the ones pushing the progenitors on their rampage of destruction.

prsstarid

A request tef please go through my earlier comments and get back to me before you complete the next chapter, because if this chapter will be a pivotal chapter then it's all the more necessary that you try and establish a presence on social media. In today's world marketing makes a huge difference. We all patrons know how good a story 3sm is but as of now lit patreon stories online etc aren't enough to go beyond the usual avid reader category and in many ways it does not cover even that so it's important to expand your online presence to get the story across to more people. Please give a thought to hpw beneficial a little marketing can be for your story. I hope i hear from you soon because i really want more people to read your story and more people to know you are a real top class author.

Thanks very much for those. I've fixed them and updated the copy on Patreon. :-)

Tefler

I'll make a start on it today! :-)

Tefler

That's what I was going for behind all the action. Ultimately, LK had finally escaped millennia of being controlled, but he'd caused nothing but pain and heartbreak with all his actions in this part of the galaxy. In the end, Ailanthia and hundreds of thousands of Larathyran thralls paid the price.

Tefler

It's a tricky balancing act. I think some dialogue is critical in combat scenes to break up lots of narration and make the scene more personal. On the flipside, too much doesn't feel natural, it takes out some of the urgency of the battle, and as you say... also wrecks the pacing. The twins got taken down right at the start, before the guide suggested wearing LK down. The rest of the fight went relatively smoothly, until Sakura, Rachel, and Dana all got taken out in rapid succession. John lost it at that point, when he realised that prolonging the fight had put the girls at undue risk.

Tefler

I'd saved all the budget for the big end of season finale! :-) (The producers are going to have a stroke when they see the budget forecast for the final season...)

Tefler

Great chapter! Nice work Tefler!

Okay, no more evil cliffhangers. :-)

Tefler

One of my editors was always telling me to make it so the beginning of a chapter got people hooked. I'm glad you liked the start!

Tefler

I prefer to think of myself as "Grand Story Overlord". :-)

Tefler

Thanks a lot for the edits! I'm really pleased you enjoyed the chapter. :-)

Tefler

Fuckin epic.....great to get home from work for a good read!!

B S

Thanks for letting me know about that one! :-)

Tefler

Wow nice chapter. Gj tef

wow

Thanks for all the great comments everyone! I'm delighted to hear that you guys enjoyed the chapter. I hope I'm forgiven for the evil cliffhanger I left at the end of chapter 120... :-) I'm going to make chapter 121 a double-sized one (60k words in total), as it's a pivotal chapter with a bunch of very important things happening in it. There's also a few things I want to resolve all in the one overall chapter, like John meeting Rahn'hagon and finding out what happened to the Invictus. It won't make any difference to you guys as you'll see the next 30k words before the end of the month as usual, but it will delay the release on literotica/storiesonline for a while.

Tefler

Thanks, I'll add something to that effect. :-)

Tefler

could Rahn'hagon have actually been here before MK &amp; been defeated by him &amp; the Maliri &amp; the mysterious Enshunu the race he stole his thralls from ? Then he would have been on Arcadia much longer than we though &amp; both Ranagon &amp; MK perished in their battle . Sorry to be rambling but so energized by chapter can't shut off the questions.

bigdawguw65

Holy hell that was the best chapter yet!

Crom

To Tefler...you made no mention of Edraele during the fight helping with power.

Frostfyre

To put John's power in perspective, LK drained his entire empire dry of psychic and lifeforce energy and only managed to fight John and the girls to a draw (temporarily).

Frostfyre

A few notes concerning Progenitors/thralls 1) Ashanta pictographs showed Progenitor with bulky staff slaying red skinned males &amp; gathering red skinned female = Rahn? 2) familiar looking Progenitor with blue skinned thrall = MK 3) light green thralls = LK (only here 8 months 4) yellow skinned thralls fighting on Legacy =thought to be Ranagon's . Are Ranagon the destroyer the same as Rahn ' hagon or could they be different Progenitors &amp; how long &amp; how many Progenitors have come to this arm of space .Lots of information coming from the upcoming father &amp; Son chat

bigdawguw65

So John's dad discovered he was free from the Astral monsters here for some reason. Decided he wanted to see what a progenitor would be without the Astral daddy's fucking him up. But the real tell will be if they save fay.

Grimlakin

Now that was good. Thank you.

Nibbles

Great Chapter!!! couldn't stop reading as just one more surprise or shock rattled my head . It did sort of answer a long held belief I had that this space , for whatever reason changed Progenitors . MK changes over time , Rahn seems to have echoed that , trying to defend Jessica rather than sacrificing her to escape &amp; LK suddenly showing true love for his Matriarch ( unfortunitly for Ailanthia he wasn't here long enough to make that final sacrifice , which is what I think John was looking for .

bigdawguw65

P. S. Easter eggs make fans go crazy when the spot one plus that would get more engagement also if you are on social media improve your presence that will greatly increase the reach of your story it won't be limited to lit and other channels you have employed. I could help you in the initial stage if your presence isn't as good as it could be but better to employ an intern. Anyways now that tsm is nearing the end it's the perfect time of thinking how to market the story so that it comes across people who aren't as avid readers

@tefler something for you to add to your writing. The things you do i couldn't ever possibly emulate but then again i am better at analyzing other's literature than i am at creating it atleast currently. Anyways one thing you do need to add to your writing is easter eggs i know you aren't aware of the concept but if you plan on making this a series you need to research what they are and how will you fuse them with your style.

What a wonderful start to my day! The baying mob stood down by the epic demise of LK... my heart rate calmed... now time for a cuppa to soothe the last of my jangling nerves! Thank you for your latest installment Mr T... it was well worth the wait!

Have to disagree , John's hope has been a face to face battle that would spare his girls &amp; the Maliri from having to fight &amp; die for him . It tore him apart thinking of all the deaths that would occur if he meet LK in open battle , without much of a chance for victory The build up of the Invictus has been a steady increase of tech to combat the threats already here &amp; .was never seen to be able to challenge The Black Ship. If the Soul Forge really requires sacrificing lives to make the Black Armor as many have guessed , I doubt John would ever go along with it .

bigdawguw65

@tefler - I found 6 errors (not including the 2 already mentioned here on Patreon). I listed them all for you on discord in the edits-for-tefler channel.

LunarLilith

So now we know that astral bastard is the puppet master I expect there will be a final showdown of epic proportions

Mark Hall

Does this mean the ending is near?

FRsinewave

I was up until 2:30am because of this but damn what a way to end a bad guy

Mark Hall

Wow. Just... Wow...

Bigfoot

Holy shit

I believe it was mentioned a long time back that if John were to release his guide, he wouldn't be able to put him back. One or the other would end up in permanent control afterwards.

Jedi Khan

That was awesome! I still hope i can afford future purchases now that im unemployed. Anybody has spare change? :D

Joel San Buenaventura

holy crap what a chapter

darkuncle

Damn, that was good... But you just couldn't help yourself, could you? Just had to sink another hook at the end huh?XD

Horny Rhino

It was so good, I am going to have to read it again!!!! Back to it.....!

Arrowglass

Well worth the wait...an addictive page turner...the MASTER continues to amaze!!!!!!

Arrowglass

Not gonna lie, part of me was hoping ailanthia would survive that.

Steve

Awww man... and I was hoping they'd team up against the astral monsters together. What is it about the milky way that keeps them at bay? That was a brutal chapter, it felt like a loss of innocence. Ailanthia's death hit exceptionally hard too. Rachel could learn how to restore husks though maybe? Hopefully Ran gives some amazing revelations, but he was probably fleeing too. All the bloodshed was shocking, and I wish we learned more about the origins of Larns thralls, and any possible links with the Nymphs, but it had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I loved how the whole team got involved in the fight, but I hope there aren't serious negative repercussions from the twins and Sakura going on that cold blooded killing spree. Thanks for a terrific ride Tefler. Can't wait for 122!

and the 5 cats are in the cradle with the silver spoon.....

TF4EVA

Damn good chapter ole chap!!! Glad 120 only caused me to leave for 2 days.

Holy shit man this was the best story I have ever read and it is not finished yet I need more

Truly impressed, thanks a ton. I can't wait for the next chapter this is the best series I have ever read.

Holy shit Tefler. That was intense. After 120, the anxiety was high leading into the chapter and never let up until the end. Fuck. I can feel the adrenaline still pumping. It's gonna take at least an hour to come down from this. Shit. And we've still got Rahn and PJ to deal with too! Double shit.

Jedi Khan

WOW!!! To say that, wow is an understatement. I was was upset with the ease that John was captured in the last chapter but he came back with a vengeance. It really shows the difference to the normal progenitor in the fact the he shares his abilities as no other progenitor in the past Kick ass. I loved this chapter.

I also have to admit I was expecting John to confront his guide first, unlock the last of the progenitor technology, build a dreadnaught of his own with a few of Dana's famous twists, then fight Larn in an epic Battle of Terra across multiple chapters - space, a planet, and maybe even some astral combat. Instead we get a relatively straightforward defensive battle of attrition set in a single room. Don't get me wrong, the battle itself was awesome - internal conflict with the guide, all the girls' varied psychic powers required to keep Larn on his toes, and the unrelenting power of deep, loving relationships compared to the trickle of power from thousands of subjects made for an exciting and entertaining read. I'm only curious about the scope of the battle. I'm not saying I'm disappointed... unless this was the story's climax and we are just wrapping up the open plot lines from here. Right now, if I had to pick an epic battle that formed the major turning point of the story, it would still be the Battle of Terra, but I expected that honor to pass to this battle once it finally arrived. If the point of this chapter was to reveal the astral monsters as the true enemy, to prove that love and true relationship are stronger than raw power and experience, and to pivot us into the final arc with a truly epic climax, then this was an awesome chapter. We think we know what's going to happen for the last 60 chapters or so, then the big bad boss is revealed to be already possible to defeat, without all the tech and the full psychic potential unlocked by defeating the guide. The only question now is, if we don't need a black ship and a fleet of thrall ships to defeat the rampaging evil progenitor, then why has the story sent us traipsing all over the galaxy doing just that? Now that we have simultaneously proven that all the ship tech acquired so far is pitiful in comparison to progenitor ships, killed the only progenitor with a ship that bests our tech, and acquired his ship, then have we nullified the last hundred chapters of ship tech acquisitions? Or are we going to take his ship and combine it with all the tech we've been gathering to build an even more powerful ship that can fight some even greater enemy? Not sure how you get a ship into the astral plane, but maybe it's a physical place accessible to the wormhole drive somehow?

*He’ll escape... Larn’kelnar won’t rest until your/you’re dead!* the Guide berated him.

I predict Tefler has tired of writing this saga and the final chapter is John meeting his dad, hugs for everyone and they throw a psychic baseball around, Cat Stevens plays in the background, fade to black.

Matt

Alternatively, icosa-shaped. As in "icosahedron" (20-sided polyhedron).

Well done Tefler, You certainly delivered, congratulations.

Interesting threads to resolve in Kirrix space - dad and mum? can and will L return? Will John and his guide clash or make up? Where is Athena? Baby needs a mum? Faye being back with a Progenitor software will change her and her creator how? Dana needs to fix what she broke. Jade has some explaining to do!! But wait there's more..... in terms of the attack on Lynette, Calara's mum, the fleet near the Bimorians...... roll on next chapter(s).

TF4EVA

Just WOW, Tefler. You deliver again.

Chester Orland

WOW...just WOW!! Best chapter yet!

Amathew2

Wow

Chicken

DAMN!

This chapter was a fucking barn-burner! With emotions swinging wildly from one end of the spectrum to another. The scene with the javelin left me reeling with disbelieving laughter that had me nearly throwing up at the mental image! All in all, 42/10! Definitely one of my all-time-favorite chapters of this series, despite the extreme brutality. Holy hell, I'm going to have nightmares tonight.

Donovan Gibson

I was really worried about this chapter ending with the guide back in control with the girls out of power to deal with it. There was no mention of John putting the guide back in his prison, and the guide has to be looking for ways to turn the situation to his advantage. It's not quite as blatant as the last one, but another cliffhanger nonetheless.

well played Tef well played, but now you're in the clock for the talk with daddy-o 🤣

Jeff

Holy Fuck-a-Doodle Shit! Mr Tefler, sir, you have raised the bar in this chapter beyond my wildest expectations. Damn fine job as always. Keep doing what you do!

WOW JUST WOW!!!!!!!!!! That was the best chapter yet. Please dont let that be the last chapter.

That was great!!! It will be very difficult to wait for the talk.

Benjamin J Russell

Oh, yeah, and worth every penny ;-)

Toodles McGhee

Holy Shitballs!

Robert Barr

What a climax after the cliffhanger! It’s a testament to your story telling skills where you seem to create endless twists and turns even at the very end. Btw can you please check? duo-deca is 12; shaping the ninjato 20 times would make it viginti as per Latin cardinal numerals

John Doe

goddammn that was f'n good!!!!!! You always know how to keep me clamoring for more.

I really don't think I would have freed a fresh Progenitor until my team was healed, rested, and ready...paternal claims or not...

Toodles McGhee

I wasn't ready for that chapter... It felt tragic.

Rogue

Epic

G E

Holy Shit. That was by far the best chapter yet. I NEED more. Absolute best story I have ever read. Not sure how close you are to being done, but I hope we still have a long ways to go. The next chapter can't get here soon enough. Thank you.

Soo good

Jason Darbe

Why why why...I need more. Please

Nicely done, sir.

Florida Reader

I don’t tend to curse, so please appreciate how impressed I am when I say that my reaction is nothing other than ‘Holy shit’. Incredible to see just how many thrusts and counter thrusts you planned out for the fight, it was truly a pleasure to read! As always leaving me desperate to read more, you truly are an author worth supporting. Thank you for writing, dealing with us obnoxious fans, and sharing with the world your creative genius.

Dennis Banfield

Yea...I'm not too sure about his guide "submitting"

Steve

Hot damn that was an awesome chapter! Though I'm a wee bit sad about John's performance. Edit: Tef demonstrates his mastery of storytelling and world building yet again. Right up there with David Weber, Tom Kratman, John Van Stry (Jan Stryvant), and Frank Herbert. I am undecided though, whether John's actions this chapter demonstrate character growth by listening to and relying on his guide, or is atypical of his personality? He grudgingly accepted a lot collateral damage to the girls that he never would have condoned in previous chapters. Ideally I would have liked to have seen more dialogue between him and his guide about this, though I can see how that would affect the pacing of the fight.

Steve

Could not stop, off to Bed!

WoWWWWW

you have got to be kidding me, now that was worth waiting for. That is one of the best chapters yet....... what a way to end Lanr K..... what a way get his guide to submit. working together for a common goal... wow, i am sitting here in awe.... what an amazing writer...... what a story....

Taco1085

Wow. Just finished and had a few thoughts. I wonder if the multiple times LK's thralls were described as just regular everyday people going about mundane lives, is supposed to make you feel sympathy or for you to hate LK even more for treating them like single use disposable batteries? Helene's reaction reminds me of Dana dealing with the massive death toll that she caused against the Kintark. Everyone of the girls (including Faye) has had some emotional scars from combat. That said, I wonder what Daddy Progenitor is going to say and I wonder if LK remarking “But not anymore... here I’m free of their cursed interference!” has anything to do with "The Shroud" and the number of naturally occuring psychic species (Vulcat, Kirrix, Bolon) that inhabit the space. Valada's psychic abilities were a mutation and the Ashanath were an experiment. I wonder if the psychic factored into the last Progenitor war. Now the wait for Ch.122. ETA: Now there are a few plot threads to consider like the last of Jade's sisters (that we know of) that is stuck with the Brimorians and what to do about them now that LK's plans for the galaxy are done. Those pesky Brimorians will have to rethink their plans for expansion and their plans for "The Abandoned".

commatoes

An amazing climactic battle! I have greatly enjoyed seeing your writing style evolve over the course of the story. I am sure most, if not all, would agree that you hold a position among the top of their personal favored author list. You certainly top my chart. I can already hardly wait for the next chapter. Keep up the fantastic writing!

I dont know how you do it tef but keep up the damn good work!!!!

Sound of many hands clapping for a looooong time

David Kepler

Ahhh... MUCH better than the last chapter ending! :-)

GrandPaM

Wow, absolutely fantastic and worth the wait congratulations Tefler you excelled yourself.

Mick Peaper

Oh my god this was worth it. Worth every agonising moment. Just utter satisfaction. Honest to god Tef if i could kiss you, i would. Whilst this journey is not yet over, i give you my eternal gratitude

Nathos

Amazing!!

Did the same. On Ch. 71.

commatoes

such a good chapter

the story is far from over. Tefler estimated that it will take most of this year to fully wrap-up this story. then next year, he'll be writing the sequel.

LunarLilith

Tefler has already confirmed that he will be writing a second story set in the same universe, but 20 years in the future. However, it will not focus on John and the girls (or even another Progenitor). A few of the current cast may show up in the background, but that is all. It will an entirely new main character.

LunarLilith

Wow, really pushed the boat out on the SFX budget this time. That was intense!

Excellent work, this is the best chapter yet, but where do we go from here... only Tefler knows.

if anything this just makes me think that there will be a second series after this has finished....

Well Larn kinda foreshadowed who would be gunning for John next with his they were controlling me speech.

Jacob

Well this is the best chapter so far. Your skills as a writer continue to get better and better. Well done. Thanks

What a chapter! Tefler, you continue to excel. Magnificent :)

andrew finlayson

Umm. Wow... The power of coherent speech has now been lost. I got nothing! Just WOW

That was incredible beyond words. Wow!

LunarLilith

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!! THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!

Simorthelast

My word, what’s next? Damn fine writing Mr T

Most intense chapter yet

Frostfyre

HOLY SH!T!!! Nothing else comes to mind

Frostfyre

i'm sure the mob have quietened and you have been forgiven o great creator

TF4EVA

Lanr’kelnar’s -&gt; Larn’kelnar’s John’ duplicity. -&gt; John’s duplicity. Great chapter! Extremely enjoyable!

Evan

Wow

Holy-o-fuck boys. Damn. That was pretty intense. I thought this was gonna be an Adonis Creed v Viktor Drago arc, but it turned out to be an Ivan Drago v Apollo Creed arc. The real question though, is what's John's new ride gonna be? And who else is gonna be gunning for him to the point where Tef's gonna have to write a sequel series? NEXT TIME ON LIONBALL-Z....

Godzilla511

Thanks as always, Tef!

Bp Hlpt

Fantastic as usual tefler and i much prefered the ending this time

Adam Brindley

Oh wow!! Finally....

bob lakhanpal

YATTA! Fina-fuckin-lly. Than-Q!

Youkai-sama

About to go read 121 now

Love you tefler but please don’t do that again as my feels can’t handle that anymore.

cheers mister

Braw

omg, the first two paragraphs have me hooked. no way they got in there.... way to throw a curveball Tefler..... wow

Taco1085

mmm Dr Tefler in the House! soothing them savage breasts, pouring oil on troubled waters (an then lighting it up) giving some of us our fix.... Many thanks

TF4EVA

thanks Tefler

rich ed

*Loud Banging* FBI OPEN UP

Alphaonetango

Awwww yeah!

Thanks Tefler

finally :) I started reading through 3SM from the beginning again in the meantime ... &lt;3 thanks Tefler.

darkuncle

First! ^h^h^h^h^h^h^hFourty-First!

GrandPaM

lynch mob,,,,, heck salutations and love..... the suspense is killing me... now to read this masterpiece and relish your work...

Taco1085

Thank you, Tefler!

Evan

welp guess i know what im doing when i get off work. Thanks for the update depending on how the chapter goes i may be back with more torches and pitchforks

Our fix is in

First to the key!

Tefler

Lynch mob? What did you do?..... 😒

Muledrvr

Tnx tefler

Adam Brindley

I was just about to go to bed. Looks like I wont be now. Thanks For the next installment.

Not sure. Still considering the mob...

thomas

ty

Mjk154

Thank the Creator. My refresh key was starting to give off a burnt electronics smell.

commatoes

Thank you! 👍👍

BFCP79

Sweat baby Jesus thank you!

Amathew2

Thanks Tefler

Cignal

Looking forward to this.

Wahoo!

Nchalada

here we go

YEAAAAAAAAAH!!!

Yahooo

DCM

Its time...

Rogue

Yay!

Tony

Thank God, I was going through withdrawals lol

Yay

Muledrvr

woohoo

Frostfyre

yay!

Jedi Khan

First to the egg!

CJ Mora