"Uhmm...my system doesn't allow ability checks," I spoke, not knowing what else to say.
"That's impossible unless you are stronger than her" the first instructor spoke.
"Are you stronger than me?" She asked.
"I don't know how strong you are, so there's no way to tell if I'm stronger or you are," I spoke.
"Huh!! You really believe you are stronger than her; you aren't even stronger than me," the boy named Gabriel spoke immediately.
"Wait...you are really confident that you are stronger than me, Gabriel, hand me your sword," she spoke.
"Wait...you want to duel with me, but you are an instructor, and you're good at magic," I said, immediately realizing what a bad idea this was.
If we duel, I would probably lose without showing any real skills then I won't pass.
"I won't use magic; you are allowed to use magic if you can; you already have a sword, so take a stance; the rest of you move backward," she spoke as she cracked her neck.
'Okay, it seems this is happening, I should probably use all my mana to enhance my body and sword, the first attack would definitely be heavy since she's checking to see if I'm powerful'
"Are you ready?" She asked.
"Yes," I said clenching my sword tightly.
"Here I come," she said, and in an instant, she was in front of me; her speed and control were so precise, and her movement was fluid and graceful.
But my dad was the same, and I had stopped him a lot of times; I quickly swung my sword to parry her attack, sending sparks as both of our swords met.
Her attack was heavy, but I managed to stop it; she jumped backward and had a smile and a satisfied look on her face.
She handed the sword back to Gabriel, "You passed"
"I passed, really...but you only attack once," I said.
"You won't be able to block my second attack; I can't believe you were able to withstand my power; look at your hands," she said.
I glanced down at my hands and noticed both of them were shaking; I didn't notice until she told me I couldn't hold my sword upright anymore, and I couldn't clench it tightly.
"It'll wear off after a few seconds, don't worry about it"
"Was this because of the strength behind your attack or something else?" I asked.
I couldn't believe two swords clashing would cause my hands to shake; I'm not even afraid, so why are my hands shaking?
"It's a skill I use to disarm my opponent if I'm fighting humans, I haven't used it for a long time since I became an instructor, it'll wear off soon"
"So the test is over, but I'll give anybody who wants a second chance; all of you to the left, you passed," the first instructor spoke, and I could see them smiling while the ones to the right were angry.
"I want a second chance" a girl spoke.
"If you want a second chance, you'll have to fight with him, and if you have nothing to show, you won't be allowed to take the test next year, so train hard and take it next year or in two years, which is better?" The instructor asked with a smile.
"Passing the test now is better," the girl said.
"Okay, Gabriel," she spoke as Gabriel drew his sword; since she wasn't with a sword, I gave her mine before they could bring a sword for her.
The girl looked like a seasoned warrior as she stood with the sword in her hands; the rest of the girls who didn't pass were afraid of trying, so they were waiting to see if she would pass or not before deciding to try their luck.
"Any time now," Gabriel spoke, and the girl charged towards him.
I looked at her and was fascinated; her swordplay was meh, she wasn't that good, and frankly, I was stronger than her in terms of strength, and she was a girl; maybe if the system had allowed my stats to be taken, I would have lost.
Gabriel pushed her backward and began to unleash attack after attack making her completely in the defensive for some seconds before she fell to the ground.
"Do you surrend..." Gabriel suddenly stopped with the sword in his hands, the girl on the other hand stood up from the ground, dusted her body, and placed her sword on Gabriel's neck.
Everyone was shocked; Gabriel couldn't move; all he could do was move his eyes till, after a few seconds then, he fell to the ground.
"What kind of skill is that, how did you do that?" The instructor asked.
"I've been trying it for a long time, but it doesn't seem to be working; I'm glad it did," the girl said with a smile as she breathed heavily from exhaustion.
I knew she was lying; she knew what she was capable of doing, or else she wouldn't have agreed to fight him. Gabriel was stronger than her, and she knew, but her skill didn't select between weak and strong, and that's the kind of skill I wanted.
The girl turned around and stared at all the students that passed, and her eyes landed on me; I quickly clapped my hands and smiled brightly.
"Who else wants to try?" The instructor asked and another girl stepped forward.
.
.
.
After about an hour, the test was finally over; among the girls who asked for a second chance, only five successfully passed, and most of them failed.
The students who failed were sent back, some of the girls who tried again but failed were crying because they knew they wouldn't be able to join the academy next year.
"Before you leave, I forgot to tell you something," the instructor spoke, and all of them stopped.
"All of you can try next year, I just said that to scare the weak ones and test the strong ones, you can all try next year, bye"
"What...then I'd like to tr..." Before the girl could finish the sentence the Instructor was already in front of her.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing, I'll work hard and try next year" the girl spoke and quickly ran towards the gate.