After one full year of torture, no training as they explored the lands, Watson and his disciple Yyath arrived at Holmes, the sect Watson and now Yyath belonged to.
The area they were was named after the sect, Holmes. It was found in the northern part of the demon continent at a location where even demons would think twice before going.
Unlike the past where the demon continent was a home for only demons and had the illusion of being a land of hail and brimstone, the continent was not inhabited by members of all races
The continent was just like any other continent. It had a hotter climate and temperature as it was a continent located right on the equator, the four seasons wasn't so defined in this part of the world, with they just having the raining and dry seasons.
The part where Holmes was located was a massive desert that occupied a majority of the northern sector of the continent. It was the largest desert in the world
Holmes was a ruin in an oasis in this desert discovered by a group of friends in the past. The ruin wasn't like any other ruin discovered where they had to conquer beasts, explore traps and what not.
Instead it was like the vacation home of some rich noble from a long lost era. The main buildings were still standing strong with plenty of their functions intact.
This coul be both their big break and their disaster if not handled with care, so all 20 of them swore an aether oath not to leave the area until they were strong enough to defend themselves, and not to betray eachother.
According to the sect history, over the course of 60 years, they stayed and used the plentiful resources and knowledge they found to empower themselves, with a few of them reaching the heights of ascendancy
In that time, their families had already moved on, life had forgotten them so they decided to start a new life for themselves.
They were strong enough to defend themselves from.greedy eyes, but not enough to defend against an entire nation so they didn't announce their finding still but instead started the tradition of each member leaving to find his disciple.
Time went forward and rumors of a hidden sect started to spread and Holmes eventually came into the limelight. Men as greedy as they were wanted that ruin for themselves and gathered an army of practitioners to do so
The result, a total wipeout. It would have led to a full scale war if not for the demon king interfering. He didn't ask for the ruins or for them surrender their knowledge, instead he asked for an opportunity for the young ones all over the world to join the sect and learn from them.
Whatever they decided to do after joining and learning would be left to the ones who joined. The leader of that sect agreed on conditions that all who joined the sect must serve them for a period of time and would take an oath not to disclose what they weren't allowed to about the sect.
That was how the world's first sect Holmes came into fruition and the reason for the 20 year selection.
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As Yyath was a disciple of a true elder in the sect, his status was above the outer disciples and inner disciples. He was a a core disciple.
Unlike other disciples that had to stay in the area that were assigned to them, for example the outer residential area for the outer disciples and the inner residential area for the inner disciples
The core disciples stayed in the the same courtyard as their masters. The true elder resident after all was designed in such a way.
Hierarchy in the sect was defined as such
outer disciple - inner disciple - core disciple - outer elders - inner elders - true elders - inner sanctum.
The inner sanctum comprised of the sect leaders and ancestors.
Moving up the ranks wasn't impossible, but the only way to become a true elder or was to devote one's life to the sect and only a true elder could become a part of the inner sanctum.
The inner and outer elders were formerly disciples that reached a level of requirement during their time of learning and were fulfilling their service time in the sect.
You would think that such a system would have spies and such but it wasn't so as the world knew just what an opportunity it was for members of all races to have access to a ruin and knowledge of such races.
They all scrambled for the opportunity to be part of it and didn't want a mistake on their part to be a reason for the Holmes to close their doors once again.
As for fools who still taught they had a chance to pull of something, the sect had self governing system, the disciplinary committee led by a different set of people not under the sect hierarchy.
They rarely showed their mask covered faces, but when they did, a change was sure to follow.
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Yyath quicky got accustomed to life in the sect. Technology wasn't allowed in the ruins for two reasons
The first being the oasis isolated signals and caused most tech to not work on sect grounds. The second being the practitioners lived an ascetic life.
With the exception of the massive train station and tracks that allowed people from all over the world visit the sect grounds during the period of selection, no other gadgets could be found.
Yyath didn't mind this as even in the city he lived in, he was a part of the slums and couldn't even used them if he wanted to.
The earliest memory he had was waking up in an abandoned house in town a about a year before he met his master. While he had no one to take care of him, people also didn't bother him after the incident where he burned a man alive that grabbed him by the cuffs to kick him out of the building.
The understood the demon kid was a practitioner and stayed away as they were just normal people trying to survive.
Some people however did approach him for jobs and chores, like garbage disposal, deliveries and security in exchange for a bit of money and food to eat. I mean if you had a living flamethrower protecting you, who would want to mess with you.
The immediate block around where Yyath stayed became a somewhat stable and safe spot with people scrambling to live there. They also provided for the kid as thanks for the protection they got just from him living in that block.
Yyath wondered how the folks in the area were doing now that he had left without saying goodbye and could only hope for their safety, especially him*, he* was probably running around looking for traces of where he went even now.
Time passed and Yyath grew stronger, learning from his master and using the resources from the sect, while he did interact with people in the sect, it was more of acquaintances talking and not friend enjoying each others presence.
Yyath was taciturn but attentive. He didn't make anyone uncomfortable in his presence but he didn't allow them get too comfortable either so no one apart from his master knew much about him.
No one in the sect was surprised though as that was exactly how his master was.
'Like teacher like disciple' they all taught
A devilish pair made from hell.
The only time they ever saw a reaction other than indifference from Yyath was during battle as he had proven himself to be an excellent swordsman, despite being a practitioner of the embodiment path.
An elder once criticized saying
"If not for Watson being a human and Yyath being a pure blood demon, I'd believe Yyath was his bastard child. Watson has brought up Yyath to be an exact clone of him
He has taught him everything he does, even that ridiculous battle style of him fighting with sword and backing it up with his arsenal of spells
For Aar's sake, you're a magician, you should be controlling the elements and holding the domain to your control but instead here you are swinging your sword around.
The worse part being that your good at both sides. Praise be to Aar that you're both on our side because I would never want to face you in battle"