Clay tried shutting his eyes, and when he did, due to his uncontrolled strength, the wind generated by Clay shutting his eyes blew all the dust away except for those already in his eyes.
It was useless since it didn't remove the dust from his eyes but it gave Clay quite a cool breeze, a breeze he couldn't enjoy because of the uncomfortable feeling of having wood dust in his eye.
'This sucks' Clay thought with tears forming in his eyes.
He struggled some more hoping that a miracle might happen and make the dust go away.
Clay found that shutting his eyes lessens the unpleasant feeling to a certain degree at least. So now, Clay was basically blind with his mind racing to find a solution to this problem.
It didn't help that his new strength practically makes every second last longer since his mind was working overdrive with his body filled with adrenaline because of the stressful situation he was currently experiencing.
Seconds passed with Clay still squirming around with no result whatsoever.
'Ok, I gotta find a solution quick' breathing was getting harder for Clay as the dust was slowly accumulating in his lungs.
This time, instead of randomly moving around, Clay decided to put all his strength into flexing his muscles to at least make some more space for his arms to move.
He wiggled around some more but this time it was much more targeted. Clay's elbows were using his body as leverage for his arms to push against the walls of the confined space to make more room.
And it worked. There was now extra space in the cramped area he 'made'. Though, he still needed more room in order to actually use his power to the fullest. And if there was one thing that Clay found out that he was good at doing today, it was making more room, even if it was accidentally.
'Alright, I can work with this'
As the narrow room began to widen a bit thanks to the efforts of Clay, Clay was getting closer and closer to freeing himself. By now the enclosed space had enough room for Clay to gather his strength and attempt to punch another hole beside the hole his head was currently stuck through.
Clay knew that he could just push the floorboard of the attic with his hands and pull back his head away from the hole, but he didn't do that because he was scared of accidentally cutting himself to the sharp wood splinters that were jutting outwards from the hole.
Clay felt around to find the perfect spot to punch through and not hit his own head in the process, once he found the perfect spot he then prepared his right arm for the moment of truth and proceeded to unleash the power of 724 points in strength on the poor reinforced wooden floorboard.
*Crack*
Surprisingly, contrary to his expectations, his fist went through the wood planks with ease.
"What?" since his eyes were closed, Clay couldn't really tell if he had actually punched a hole through the wood or punched through the air because he didn't really feel anything as if he was a hot knife cutting through butter. He only felt something touching his fist for a moment and then it was gone, like it was never there.
Clay doubted that he had actually made another hole but he figured there was no harm in trying to touch his face.
"Ow!" Clay moved his hands a little bit too fast that he basically slapped himself on the cheek. He only felt surprised by the sudden sting which didn't really hurt but since he wasn't prepared for receiving a slap he instinctively said "ow".
'Man, I probably look really stupid right now' Clay bitterly laughed at himself.
Which he regretted immediately as the dust rapidly entered his mouth.
Clay coughed a bit.
His right arm which he confirmed made another hole, reached for the space between the hole his right arm was in and the hole his head was in.
Once he had a rough estimate of where to punch another hole, he readied his fist to 'expand' the hole his head was stuck inside of.
*Crack*
Another crack resounded as his right arm tore through the floor with ease once again, with the wooden shrapnel flying everywhere.
"Clay?" a voice spoke from below Clay.
'Huh?' was the only thought that Clay could muster before he fell down.
*Thud*
"Oof" Clay said as he felt the wind get knocked out of him as he landed right on his butt on the hard floor.
Realizing that he was finally free, Clay hurriedly rubbed his eyes with his hands so fast that it appeared like a blur to onlookers.
Clay sighed in relief as he finally could open his eyes.
"What happened?" the same voice spoke out again, but this time Clay could finally afford to see who it was.
Clay looked around and saw the same bespectacled secretary with her hands on the door which was wide open, gawking at Clay with a dropped jaw as she had just witnessed him falling from what seemed like 14 feet unharmed.
"Uh, I can explain?" Clay could not find any other words to say other than that, and because of the adrenaline, his brain forgot that he should have been nervous talking to a pretty woman and should've stuttered a little bit.
The secretary looked at the ceiling and then rubbed the space between her eyes with a sigh.
"Just, Just come with me" the woman walked out the door.
Clay stood up with a wry smile as he realized the possible consequences of what he did.
But hey, at least he got to go to the elite academy right?
Clay followed the woman through the door and saw that the crowd had already left, only people who had also passed were still here, and that included Josh. So naturally, Clay walked over to where Josh was since he didn't really want to stand alone awkwardly in a big room.
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Also my patreon is out p@treon(com)/StoryVersePremium, replace @ with "a" and the parenthesis with "." there is currently 1 advanced chapter there :( though im going to work on that soon so expect more advanced chapters