Master's Might

Although I gained a lot of skills and abilities from the beginning, I was nowhere near strong enough to face a Swordmaster, and I didn't think I would be even after a year, so I had no actual reason to fight her... except one.

As Gabriel said, I needed a lot of experience to learn advanced swordsmanship, and although I spent a lot of time fighting monsters and not normal fighters, my inexperience in fighting a regular swordsman could cause problems.

Additionally, pattern reading wasn't very effective for fighting against an intelligent being, since they could change their behavior in the middle of the fight, making experience important.

"Attack me whenever you're ready," she said while unsheathing her sword.

I nodded and looked at the other examiners in the hall. They were silently observing the situation, without any heavy expressions on their faces. By simply looking, I could easily tell they wouldn't intervene.