Ritzy didn't find any haunted mansions, corrupt castles, or lurking lairs to house his great necromancer self.
But he did find an old decrepit cabin in the middle of the woods on the way north since that was the direction of Kalar.
Kalar was apparently a big city not too far from Benin, famous for its market. The first person Ritzy met and asked knew and told him about it. Ritzy had hoped it was an infamous and secret society Blondie had somehow gotten the coat from. So, he had been a little disappointed that he got the answer so quickly.
It made Ritzy less keen on going to the city and more on searching for treasure. However, since they didn't know where any of the ruins from that ancient empire were, they might as well take a windy detour to Kalar and look for stuff and material there.
Who knows? Maybe that smuggler and poacher group would know where to find exotic stuff like dragons and unicorns.
Ritzy had the Unholy Avatar fix up the cabin so he could use it as his base while he expanded his army. He had the frozen statues of all the would-be robbers who chased him out of Benin, as well as Blondie's charred corpse to do something with. There was also the traveler who told him where Kalar was. He had given Mognog a funny look, so Ritzy decided to show him what it was like to be just a skull.
In addition to deciding what to do with all of those materials, Ritzy also had the Bone Chalk he had bought from the black market he could use to summon more troops. He had bought books on necromancy and a couple of spell books as well that he couldn't leave unread.
There was so much necromancing to do that Ritzy could barely contain himself. There were so many different things that he didn't know where to start. Eventually, Ritzy decided that he should learn as much as possible to improve the results of his necromancy as much as he could.
He religiously studied the books and spellbooks on necromancy first since he felt that his necromancy, especially summoning using Bone Chalk, wasn't reliable enough for him just to do it. Ritzy had even been considering if he should use the Bone Chalk for something else or if he should save it and use it for quick summoning.
It was just that he preferred something more permanent and continuously useful over quick summoning, even if he had experienced the cleanest success with that.
Fortunately, while twisting his brain over what to do, Ritzy stumbled upon a new method of using Bone Chalk he hadn't known before. In fact, all the books were filled with mostly new knowledge. Drychness really was the home of necromancy.
A quick black market deal had netted Ritzy more and higher level information than he had ever managed to scrounge together while living in Vestor. He couldn't stop shivering from excitement.
Ritzy diligently studied the necromancy books. He also trained his mana and performed some maintenance and check-ups on his other undead aside from Avie, Mognog, and Xiotal, such as the Man-Eating Flesh Slime, Maya, Talia, Bone Club, and Pile O' Bones.
Ritzy could feel joy fill him up as he saw his array of undead minions take shape in front of his eyes. He was truly on the path toward the greatest necromancer in history.
It had been a bumpy road, especially at first when his summoning rituals only worked on a technical basis and not in practice. But the challenges only made it more fun and rewarding.
Besides, considering he couldn't predict or control the outcome of his necromancy even after studying all the materials from Benin, Ritzy realized he would have to get used to the bumps in the road. He could always make use of the downward slopes to ease his travels, after all.
Maybe the ups and downs were a metaphor for how some parts of his necromancy were trash, such as his ability to summon and control ordinary undead the way many other necromancers did, while other parts, such as his talent for mana, understanding of theory, and ability to summon excentric and unique undead blossomed.
Regardless of how he chose to describe it, Ritzy had no choice but to accept that his necromancy was a little unconventional, at least for now. And it would remain that way until he found a solution by himself or until he beat the shit out of the god most likely responsible for it. It could also be another person's doing, but Ritzy still wanted to beat the shit out of the Storage of Darkness.
Ritzy played around with his undead, his necromancy materials, and his magic in that cabin until he felt satisfied. Of course, he would never be satisfied as long as he had some necromancy to do.
But the eagerness and excitement for more and making progress with Talia's resurrection and the expansion of his army outweighed his desire to continue playing catch with Avie and training his mana.
So, he set off toward Kalar. The results with Blondie and her fur coat weren't what he had expected, but it still made him long for more animal-related necromancy. Hopefully, that smuggler ring was still there. And if not, someone else had probably taken their place.
Worst case, there's no smuggler ring he can use to find exotic animals and the like. In that case, he will just have to look for the black market and find less specific materials and more resources for his necromancy.
There was no harm in going to Kalar, regardless of the Timma Merchant Ring's existence.
And just like that, Ritzy found himself in front of Kalar's gates wearing a red suit jacket.
"This city's pretty big, huh?"
Ritzy shielded his eyes with a hand as he tilted his head back to follow the walls up to the sky.
"It's bigger than what you've seen so far, but there are bigger ones out there. These walls are almost as big as the entrance to the old capital of the Mognog Empire."
Mognog spoke while mixing condescending and boastful tones.
"Neat. Sounds unnecessary, though."
"Hmm."
Mognog had never been one for ostentatious displays of wealth, power, or opulence, nor one for grand constructs. But his pride didn't let him agree with Ritzy.
"Well, aren't you going to enter?"
Since they had come at a seemingly opportune time in the late afternoon, Ritzy and Mognog didn't have to deal with much traffic. The road into the city was almost worryingly bare. Yet, Ritzy just stood there, admiring the elephant skull decorations hanging above the city gates.
"I'm thinking about whether this place will be a good starting point for the Legend of Ritzy."
"The legend of what now?"
"Y'know, the story people will tell their children about me in the future. Do you think Kalar is a good starting point for the official version of my tale?"
Mognog sighed. Sometimes, he felt that he was getting a better understanding of Ritzy. Other times, he just couldn't keep up. He would have shrugged if he had had shoulders.
"I don't know, kiddo. It's as good a place as any, right? I can't say I know what you have in mind, though."
Ritzy shrugged. He had shoulders. He could do it, after all.
"I'm just saying that every, y'know, epic tale or whatever, has a starting point. The stories about the Dark One don't begin with his birth. Well, some do, but they don't go into needless detail about his birth town, first years as a toddler, and prepubescent years. It's birth, then the first event, the second event, then boom! Establishing an empire!"
"And…?"
"The Dark One's first event was summoning a Death Knight on his first try and first ever attempt at summoning something. I've already missed out on beating 'em there. But that's a good thing. I'd rather stomp out my own path than follow someone else's with bigger boots."
"And…?"
"Right. I'm thinking about making Kalar my first event."
Mognog sighed with a foreboding feeling. He didn't know where Ritzy was going with this, but he was sure it would be something he would have done his best to stay far away from had he been alive. Thankfully(?) he didn't have the same kinds of worries now.
"And how are you going to turn a city into your first event, kiddo?"
Ritzy shrugged.
"I'm still thinking about that part. But it has to be something big! The bigger the better, as they say. Any suggestions, Advisor?"
Mognog would have shook his head in exasperation if he could. But he couldn't, so he just sighed.
"Let me think for a bit."
"Alrighty."
Ritzy smiled and entered Kalar, ready to make history. The more history, the better.
Kalar had been chosen as the stage for the advent of the future greatest necromancer in history. And it wasn't ready for it.