Both Jasper and Celeste had been wounded during the battle, though Jasper quite a bit more than Celeste. They slowly got up, recovering from the fight with each other's help, as it had been quite mentally taxing.

Looking around the mine, it was clear this was a temporary mining camp. Fur skins and rugs of all kinds were used for bedding, and there was only one makeshift tent.

The dead orks had a couple of pickaxes, but other than that, it seemed like they had been doing a lot of work around here by hand.

An hour later, Jasper was looking at a finished barn over the mine. He had genuinely tried to help but had only gotten in the way.

It had been quick since Celeste had complete control over building with her Tinkering Domain. Using her material consumption abilities, she had made a clearing around the barn and pulled down trees with nothing but a thought, making them into perfect planks. The planks were then easily placed in the right spots.

From there, she connected them using various types of joints that Jasper didn't even know the name of since nobody had written a book about the topic. The god of Magic considered spending his one remaining Energy on simply knowing what types of joins and methods were being used, but he decided against it, knowing that he might want to use it later.

What Jasper did know was that barns could be put up rapidly. He knew the Amish back home could put up a barn in less than a day with less than a hundred people, but he hadn't known that Celeste could be this efficient.

Celeste was cheating.

Well, cheating was a strong word. The goddess of Tinkering had stopped dedicating Energy to Withering Hour and was dedicated to gaining access to a power she hadn't picked when she had levelled up last time. It was gone for the rest of the day, but she got to use the power "Ten Thousand Tools".

This Power allowed her to count as 1000 skilled labourers instead of simply 100 labourers. She could feel the difference. Her hands moved in ways she had never imagined they could and allowed her to use wood joints she had never seen. She knew exactly where to place the next piece of lumber to prevent the house from collapsing.

Something weird had happened when she gained the Power. Celeste could feel that this Power allowed her other domains to synergize with her building. She could use them, as long as it was for the purposes of construction.

She had started by using some sap mixed with some charcoal leftover from a bonfire as wood glue. Instead of waiting for it to dry, her Time Domain had called to her, and instinctively, she had sped up time around the natural glue, hardening it in a matter of seconds.

Celeste knew she would have to choose this as her next Power now that she had experienced its awesomeness.

The goddess even started to abuse it slightly. Instead of mixing in charcoal, she simply contained the sap in a temporal loop, ageing it for millions of years in the span of a second. Thanks to her ability to process materials for tinkering, she could even force the environment around the sap to be completely oxygen-free. That meant that in the blink of an eye, she created amber.

She started using amber for skylights, ensuring light could enter, but debris wouldn't fall through the windows.

With the barn done, Celeste stepped back from the building. It was covering the open mine that the Orks had been working on.

"Great job, sweetie. I can't believe how quickly you got that done." Jasper said, honestly deeply surprised.

Celeste looked at him, confused. "Done? This is just the foundation. I will create two mineshafts on either side of the storage barn. Just wanted to check if I could find a nearby lake or something like that." She looked around, hoping to find just what she was looking for.

Jasper cleared his throat. "What do you mean, the foundation?" He had assumed that this would be the entire structure.

Celeste shook her head. "The orks were building an open mine, meaning that they would have only scratched the surface of any potential ore, or have some pretty heavy-duty machinery that I can't imagine them having access to. I want to build an underground mine, which will be harder to manage but will most likely produce a much higher yield." She explained, outlining the idea for Jasper.

As he nodded, she continued to outline her plan. "I am going to place two mine entrances. They will be connected below ground, allowing us to pump air through one of them and have it exit through the other. I also would love some kind of pulley system to lower and raise a pair of platforms for the miners to use for themselves and their resources. Both these elevators and the bellows for air would require some kind of mechanical energy. I could use furnaces for that, but I don't think that is really that effective and would lead to clearing the woods. My preferred method would be a waterwheel, but that requires a lake or at least some running water." She was doing her best to try to talk through her problem.

Jasper almost instantly got introspective. He thought about his Domains and how he might apply them to creating energy. The god could probably fix it by using some kind of arcane energy flow. However, that would lead the game down a path of 'Arcane-punk', which he wasn't sure if the main branch of Weird World Computing would appreciate.

The god of knowledge was brought out of his thoughts by Celeste giving him a small poke, and he nodded. "I can see what you mean. Can I try and find a solution for that?" He asked, not wanting to take away from her project if she wanted it to be hers alone.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Celeste looked a bit surprised but nodded. "Sure, I will probably be installing three mechanical shafts that need rotational energy for you to connect with. One for each elevator and one for the bellows. I will probably have to make a break for the elevators, but that should be fine, even if I make it from wood" Celeste was already working on the next part of the hut.

Even though it was only a couple of hours until sundown, Jasper knew that they would be home before the sun had a chance to set, all thanks to how fast Celeste worked and her ability to walk in the right direction.

Jasper walked around the building site, trying to ignore the fact that he could swear he heard the sound of power tools coming from his wife as she worked.

Usually, the solution to an engineering problem would have to be efficient, easily scalable and easy to reproduce. However, Jasper couldn't have this lead to an industrial revolution, and as such it could only be efficient. It should be almost impossible to scale for larger projects, and reproducing it needed to be equally impossible.

The god of knowledge could use some kind of divine spark to accomplish this, but that could result in some vindictive fanatics tearing the building apart simply because it had some divine energy. That was assuming that he would be getting more gods who would have cults interested in the divine.

As far as he could tell, a clockwork mechanism would be the easiest way to do this, but that could be scaled or at least replicated.

He thought about building a windmill, but that would be scalable. However, it would be hard to do efficiently without electromagnetism, meaning that each building would need its own windmill. The idea was dismissed since they were in an oak forest. However, that did provide an idea.

Jasper knew geothermal energy sources were usually planted in open fields, primarily for two reasons. Number one was the fact that digging in a forest was a nightmare. You would most likely end up damaging the trees. However, using Elementalism, Jasper could move the earth around the roots. The second problem was that a forest floor is colder than the air, at least in the summer, though it is likely the reverse in the winter. But it was only a bad thing if he wanted to heat something.

Jasper smiled, as he started working.

Celeste had only been interrupted by her husband once when he asked for some paper and pencils, though this didn't surprise her. While they enjoyed sharing things, they also saw the value in 'parallel play'. Doing different things in the same general area was often seen as rude, at least from how both of them had been raised. However, they enjoyed each other's company, even without directly interacting.

Celeste had taken some creative liberties with the building. The two mineshaft entries had been shaped into defensive towers. It didn't mean much in the middle of the forest, but it was still better than nothing. They would be able to hit anyone entering into the clearing.

The bellows had been quite an interesting project as well. They had been optimized to pull air from the top of the towers, instead of just sucking in air around them. Thanks to a lopsided cog, the bellow would be pushed in, and with the help of a rotating oval, the sides of the bellows could be spread.

All in all, she was quite proud of her project.

She had no idea how much weight each elevator could take, after all, bark twine could only hold so much. However, with her removing all imperfections, she was fairly sure that it could lift at least ten people, though she would have to inform the villagers about this.

Jasper looked like he was ready to go home, though looking over his work, she was a little surprised. "Do you wanna share what you are building? Well, I assume I will be building this." She asked with a smirk.

He shrugged. "You probably will, but I think I have an elegant and non-scalable solution to our energy problem." He said with a grin. "We will be using ground heat... that and ground cold. The important aspect is that we have a noticeable temperature differential. While stuff like that is usually used for heating up housing, it can also drive something fairly small. Don't get me wrong, the scale I have to apply this to compared to the benefit is not worth it. It is far more efficient just to have a water heater over a bonfire. However, this has three benefits. Most of it will be underground, ensuring that it will be hard to notice and sketch out. The tubing also has to be manufactured with such precision that it is pretty much impossible to do with current levels of technology. The amount of pressure that will be running through the piping means that smelting would be the only option, and even then, sections would need to be strengthened. However, you should be able to create it with your abilities, making it into a flawless single piece. Last, but not least, it will be a closed loop, with no moving parts. I was thinking that using Tesla valves would ensure a oneway flow, and a large tank above ground would help cool or expand the liquid." He explained, pointing at the drawings.

Jasper seemed to have thought of most aspects of this project, though there was still the question of how energy would be pulled out of this system.

The god of knowledge smiled that wide grin that made her heart melt just a little. "I am thinking some kind of turbine, though making it a bit more complex I am thinking that using a Tesla turbine might be the best solution, and if instead of water I create something much better from some of these local plants, we will have an energy source that will never be a viable option for large scale industrial complexes!" Jasper explained.

He was so excited that Celeste was sure he was going to underline the entire idea using jazzhands. He didn't, but as they walked back to town he continued to talk about his plan.

Coming back to the town, Celeste and Jasper split up, though both of them noticed that all around town, every house had the hand symbol Jasper had created painted above the door. They didn't say anything about it, though.

Jasper went around to round up his students and give them some pointers now that he had finally been in combat, while Celeste needed to talk to the king. While it was late, people hadn't gone to bed just yet.

"Ahh! Celeste! I am pleased that you have returned. We heard some commotion from the forest earlier, and we were worried for your safety. I am glad to see that you are well." The ruggedly handsome king was dressed in a grey outfit to keep him warm during the rapidly cooling evening.

"Yup! We found a great place for a mine, about an hour's walk from here, so not really that far." She explained, making the king nod with a mischievous smile.

"I am assuming that you mean the orkish camp? I am assuming that you cleared out the orks." He asked, and Celeste got the feeling that the king had known about the orks when he had pledged himself to the oath.

She nodded. "Yup, and I laid the foundation for a new mine. It still needs most of the interior, but the exterior should be finished." She explained.

The king looked at her. "Don't go thinking that I will let you off the hook with just a simple hut. I expect a full mining operation." He said, and Celeste wanted to slap him.

The goddess reminded herself that he didn't know that she had divine powers. All he knew was that she was proficient in tinkering.

She nodded. "I don't do things in small measures. Have your people out there tomorrow, and I will talk them through using the facility, " she said before turning away and heading towards the inn, her body aching from the fight.

Jasper was already in their room. Despite not needing to sleep thanks to his Endurance domain he had passed out on the bed. Celeste smiled and snuggled into his embrace, getting the best powernap of her life.