139
Chapter 139
Jjokkomi evolved into a Dimension Bear through Limit Breakthrough.
She used her newly acquired skill to create a Portal connecting to another Dungeon.
And the Dungeon Jjokkomi connected to was none other than the Rabbit Dungeon, Tosuni's hometown where Tosun's Mom reigned as Queen.
"Wooo! Connecting a Dungeon to another Dungeon! What an amazing ability!"
"Turtle, turtle!"
Tosun's Mom and Turtle gasped in admiration after hearing about Jjokkomi's ability.
All the members of our Dungeon also gathered, showering Jjokkomi with praise.
"Whoa! Teol-jjang is amazing!"
"...!"
Fox and Princess Doll flapped their arms as they cheered,
"Woong, woong! Woo-hoo-hoong!"
Tosuni shrugged proudly, as if to say she was her friend.
"Incredible. To connect two separate Dungeons... I have never seen a skill like this in my life."
"I've never heard of such a skill either."
Vampire and Ailee also looked astonished.
"Uoo, uoo!"
"Gooo, goo!"
Mother Bear and Urami.
The two watched the others' reactions and quickly realized that Jjokkomi had done something incredible.
They clung to Jjokkomi and started fiercely patting her head.
What a loving family.
I heard that Jjokkomi and Urami weren't originally this affectionate when they were alive, but experiencing death and Resurrection seemed to have deepened their bond.
"Kkyuaa! Connect our Lake too!"
"That place is way too far. And besides, the Lake isn't even a Dungeon."
"Kkyua? You can only connect Dungeons?"
"That's what I heard from Jjokkomi Mama."
Just as Little Yellow Dragon said.
It was impossible to connect to the Lake, which was Red Panda's hometown.
The distance issue could somehow be resolved, but regardless of that, the Lake simply wasn't a Dungeon.
"Kkuo... This is my first time getting so much praise... I guess this really is an amazing skill."
Hehe.
Jjokkomi scratched her head with a shy expression, not knowing what to do with herself.
For the record, Jjokkomi didn't intentionally seek out the Rabbit Dungeon to connect it.
She had merely searched for a Dungeon that was close by outside world standards, and happened to stumble upon it by chance.
Anyway.
I need to give our Heuksuni another round of praise.
You shouldn't hold back praise for the primary contributor.
After all, it was entirely thanks to Heuksuni that Jjokkomi could obtain such an amazing skill.
***
The Dungeon Connection Portal.
This Portal, created by Jjokkomi's skill, was said to be permanent.
Jjokkomi explained that unless she, the creator, closed it herself, it would never close on its own and would remain open forever.
"Gom-gom?"
"Kkuo, I'm absolutely sure! I just know it instinctively!"
Even without a Helper like me,
Jjokkomi was remarkably knowledgeable about her own skills.
If I hadn't had a Helper, if I had lived without relying on one from the start, maybe I would have instinctively understood my skills too.
Just as I finished my conversation with Jjokkomi.
"Woooong! We're here!"
"Woooooong!"
"Woong! It really is connected to the Teddy Bear Dungeon!"
Hearing the news, the Luna Rabbits came flying over in a hurry.
The three of them crossed the Portal into our Dungeon simultaneously with expressions of pure wonder.
"Woong? What are those Teddy Bears!"
"Woooong? There are more cute Teddy Bears now!"
"New Teddy Bears! Are they the children you had with our Tosuni?!"
The Luna Rabbits spotted Mother Bear and Urami, immediately hugging them and calling them cute.
Mother Bear and Urami didn't reject the Luna Rabbits' touch.
They accepted the affection calmly, without a single hint of annoyance.
They seemed to have mellowed out a lot after their Resurrection.
Back in their Flame Bear days, they would have struggled desperately to shake the Luna Rabbits off.
"Gom-gom, gom-gom-gom-gom, gom-gom-gom-gom-gom."
Those two are my mother and older brother.
They aren't children I had with Tosuni.
I quickly cleared up the Luna Rabbits' misunderstanding.
"Uoo...?"
"Gooo......."
As soon as Mother Bear and Urami heard me, their mouths fell slightly open as tears welled up in their eyes.
They looked deeply moved.
Was it because I called them mother and brother?
Come to think of it, this was the first time I had ever spoken those titles out loud.
"Woong?!"
"They're your family, Teddy Bear?"
"You had a Doll Tribe family too? Why are you only introducing them now!"
The Luna Rabbits looked surprised.
What, I guess Tosuni hadn't told them the details.
The Tomb Pregnancy incident, their Resurrection as Ghost Bears, their Fake Doll Possession, and so on.
I gave the Luna Rabbits a more detailed explanation about Mother Bear and Urami.
Once the story concluded,
the Luna Rabbits, who had been nodding along, suddenly stopped and looked at each other's faces.
Soon, all three of their eyes widened as they whipped their heads around to stare at the Portal.
"W-woong...?"
"Woooong! We're in big trouble!!!"
"Woong! You idiots! What were we thinking crossing over all together!"
The Luna Rabbits scrambled frantically back through the Portal.
I could guess why they were acting like that.
Only the three Luna Rabbits held ownership of the Rabbit Dungeon.
If all of them left the Dungeon, it would end up collapsing.
They must have gotten confused because it wasn't a Portal that normally led outside the Dungeon, and it was just sitting right there in the Rabbit Village. Unlike other Portals, the one Jjokkomi created was an open gap where the other side was clearly visible, so the Luna Rabbits probably just failed to realize they were leaving their Dungeon in the heat of the moment and made a mistake.
I only just realized it too.
Seriously, they really should have distributed some ownership to the Elders.
Well, fortunately, there was no problem.
The Rabbit Dungeon was perfectly fine without a single sign of collapse.
The Luna Rabbits, who had crossed back over to the Rabbit Dungeon and were looking around, expressed their confusion.
"What is going on here? Why is it perfectly fine?"
"Did we ever distribute ownership to someone else...?"
"Not that I can remember......."
I didn't know what was going on either.
So I asked.
The Helper.
***
Our Dungeon and the Rabbit Dungeon.
The two Dungeons hadn't become one.
Even though a Portal connecting them was created, they were still distinctly separate Dungeons.
There were no changes in the Dungeon Management Window either.
But why were there no signs of collapse even though all the Owners of the Rabbit Dungeon had left?
Regarding that, the Helper provided the following explanation.
[A Dungeon is a space disconnected from the outside world.]
[In other words, an independent world.]
[What sustains such an independent world so it can exist is the Owner of the Dungeon.]
[Therefore, when all the Owners of a Dungeon leave, the power sustaining the world disappears, and the Dungeon collapses.]
[The reason the Moon Tribe Dungeon did not collapse.]
[Because the power sustaining the Dungeon did not disappear.]
[After the Dungeons were connected, the forces sustaining the Moon Tribe Dungeon's existence increased to two.]
[1. The Owners (Luna Rabbits).]
[2. The Toy Dungeon.]
[Even if a Portal leading to the outside world exists, a Dungeon is fundamentally an independent space.]
[However, if it is connected to another Dungeon through a special passage, it is no longer an independent space.]
[The Portal of the Dimension Bear is not a simple entrance to enter the world called a Dungeon, but a special passage that connects the worlds called Dungeons to each other.]
[In other words, the Toy Dungeon is sustaining the Moon Tribe Dungeon so that it can exist.]
[Conversely, the Moon Tribe Dungeon is also sustaining the Toy Dungeon so that it can exist.]
[Even if all the Owners of the Toy Dungeon leave, as long as the Owners of the Moon Tribe Dungeon do not leave, the Toy Dungeon will not collapse.]
[Addition: The previous situation is not even considered as the Moon Tribe Owners leaving their posts.]
[Even if all the Owners of the Toy Dungeon go out to the outside world, and all the Owners of the Moon Tribe Dungeon cross over to the Toy Dungeon, and even if they are on a different floor of the Toy Dungeon, neither Dungeon will collapse. This is because the Toy Dungeon is connected to the Moon Tribe Dungeon, so they are not considered to have vacated their posts.]
[That means unless all the Owners of the connected Dungeons go out to the outside world at the same time, neither Dungeon will collapse.]
[However, the Owners of each Dungeon remain unchanged.]
[The Owners of the Moon Tribe Dungeon cannot manage the Toy Dungeon. The reverse is also impossible.]
[They have simply ceased to be independent spaces; the Moon Tribe Dungeon and the Toy Dungeon are still distinctly different Dungeons.]
Gom-gom.
I roughly understood it.
Our Helper is really good at explaining things.
But then, it should also be possible to take over another Dungeon later.
Even if I wipe out the owners of another Dungeon, it won't face Annihilation as long as it is connected via Jjokkomi's Portal.
Ah, of course.
I have no intention of going around conquering Dungeons left and right.
I'm not exactly a Teddy Bear overflowing with ambition, after all.
If anything, you could say I'm a peace-loving Teddy Bear.
Therefore, I decided to just connect randomly to any Dungeon first; if they were friendly, we'd form an alliance, and if they were hostile, we'd take them over by force.
There's no problem even if we connect to a dangerous Dungeon.
If we determine that it's a higher-level Dungeon than ours, we can just sever the connection.
***
I used a large amount of White Mana Stones.
On the 1st Floor, relative to the Portal leading to the outside world.
Since the Labor Camp was on the left, I expanded the space on the right to create a vast square.
To keep it from looking too empty, I placed Statues here and there to fill the void.
Me, Tosuni, Jjokkomi, Ailee, Princess Doll.
Fox, Vampire, Red Panda, Mother Bear, Urami.
They were Statues modeled after the Dungeon members, excluding the Fake Dolls and Slaves.
Naturally, I made the Statues of Mother Bear and Urami in their Ghost forms.
"...! ......!"
Princess Doll, who had been slowly taking in the Statues, soon looked at me with eyes full of respect.
Honestly, they weren't even that well-made.
Still, to Princess Doll, they seemed to look like masterpieces.
Well, compared to the Statue Princess Doll had made, they definitely were masterpieces.
She had initially made a Statue to help me, but she was so terribly bad at it that she eventually gave up. Fox took that Statue, which was basically a failure, saying it was a waste to throw it away.
Anyway.
The name of this place is Portal Square.
I planned to install Portals connecting to various other Dungeons here in the future.
Currently, I had created five Portals connected to the Rabbit Dungeon.
Even though Jjokkomi said the Portals wouldn't disappear unless she closed them herself... you never know, so I installed multiple connecting Portals as a failsafe. For reference, Jjokkomi had just closed the Portal that was left open in the Labor Camp.
Afterwards.
On both sides of the five Portals connected to the Rabbit Dungeon.
While I was making Statues of the three Luna Rabbits, including Tosun's Mom.
"Kkuouh... focus, focus......!"
Nearby, Jjokkomi wiggled her bottom and attempted to connect to another Dungeon.
Mother Bear and Urami clung to Jjokkomi, cheering her on.
After a little time had passed like that.
"Kkuo! I found another one!"
Jjokkomi's shout rang out.
When I turned my head toward her, I saw Tosuni looking through the wide-open Portal with a surprised expression.
"Woong?!"
She also seemed slightly flustered.
Why is she acting like that?
Full of questions, I also shifted my gaze to the Portal.
"Gom...?"
A familiar landscape caught my eye.
What, this place was a Dungeon too?
Beyond the Portal.
The Carrot Field... no, the Gacha Field where I went on a date with Tosuni was spread out before me.