faster furnaces and mining

Minecraft’s core progression has expanded significantly over the years, yet two foundational systems—mining speed and furnace efficiency—remain largely unchanged since the game’s earliest versions, creating unnecessary slowdown in modern gameplay. As world generation, ore density, crafting complexity, and building scale have increased, the time required for resource processing has not kept pace, resulting in disproportionate waiting and repetitive tasks. Introducing a new, faster tool tier to streamline late‑game mining, alongside improved furnace performance through either a configurable gamerule or an upgrade‑based system, would modernize these mechanics without disrupting balance. These enhancements would reduce excessive downtime, support large‑scale building and exploration, and align core systems with the scale and expectations of contemporary Minecraft, improving overall player experience across both single‑player and server environments.