Alchemy-related mechanic: Cauldron mixing

[Cruuk]

This mechanic revolves around a Cauldron block filled with water. By throwing the right items into a Cauldron, it can create new items or more. Doing this would remove a layer of water from the Cauldron.

Whether the items are automatically consumed, or if there should instead be a "spoon"-esque item that you have to use to complete the process, I'm not sure. Whether this mechanic should also be tied to the Cauldron, or a new block is something I'm also not sure of, but I think it should be the regular Cauldron block

Functionally, it would be another way of obtaining stuff, but it doesn't have to just be items. It can also be stuff like summoning mobs or other things like temporary environmental AoE effects. With this mechanic, Cauldron recipes would also be able to require a lot more than just 9 slots of items, since it would theoretically be based on the dropped items being in the Cauldron.

You can also add additional pieces to this, like having recipes that require a fire block or other blocks to be under the Cauldron. The liquid requirement can be different too (by the way you can't place Candied water or Toxic waste in a Cauldron currently)

And obviously, there could be Cauldron recipes that require certain levels of Alchemy to access, that's the whole reason it would be related to the Alchemy skill

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Thematically, this is referring to chemistry in general, but I am more specifically being inspired by ancient alchemy in this instance. The one with the mysticism and symbolism. There can be more direct references to it, like having a Cauldron recipe that creates Gold. It's also why I mentioned mobs as a possible output for Cauldron recipes. The skill is called "Alchemy".

I would want to also suggest integrating more of it, like the different alchemical processes, but I don't want to get carried away. Unsure how that could smoothly translate ingame

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Gameplay-wise, the purpose of this mechanic is that I think it would be a cool supplementary reward for training Alchemy. It is ultimately another avenue for obtaining stuff, but as stated it can be more than just items, like mobs or temporary AoE effects. The way I see it, that would make it stand out from existing stuff like the Hauling rod mechanic or Beacons