v0.18.0: The Great Alchemy Expansion — Furnace & Fires, Mastery, Battle Pills, Toxicity, and Equipment Reforging

🐛 FIXED: Permanent Pills Did Nothing

The most important fix of this patch. Permanent stat pills crafted in v0.17.0 were missing their effect payload — consuming one only restored 1000 HP / 500 MP and wasted the pill. Crafted pills now carry their effects properly, and any permanent pills already sitting in your bag work again. Related: rebirth incorrectly wiped permanent pill bonuses, pill counts and collected recipes (including Spirit/Immortal recipes bought from the sect) — all of these now survive rebirth as designed.

🔥 The Furnace & Fires Actually Matter Now

The furnace had a dirty secret: its level lived in the UI component and reset every time you left the alchemy page — you paid real spirit stones for nothing. Furnace level now persists, and each level grants real bonuses:

• Success rate: up to +20 points at level 10 (stacks with entry bonuses, capped at 95%).
• Craft time: up to -20%.
• Fires unlock at furnace levels 3/5/7/9 (Spirit / Earth-Heart / Samadhi / Phoenix) and cut craft time by a further 20/40/60/80% — for a spirit-stone fee per craft. Phoenix fire at max furnace nearly quintuples your crafting speed.

✨ Mastery & Tier Upgrades

• Every alchemy craft levels your alchemy mastery; each level adds a chance to yield a DOUBLE pill (up to ~11.25% at max — roughly one bonus pill every 9 crafts).
• Furnace + mastery together give each successful permanent pill a chance to roll one tier UP: mortal→spirit→immortal, up to 9% at full investment.

⚔️ Battle Pills & Toxicity

• Two new battle pills: Warbreaker (+15% attack) and Ironwall (+15% defense), each lasting the next 5 battles. Same-line pills stack up to +25%.
• Toxicity: every pill adds toxicity (battle pills +15, permanent +5, lesser pills less). At 40+ cultivation slows 15%; at 70+ cultivation slows 30% and battle stats drop 10%; at 100 you cannot take any pill. Every battle fought purges 1 point — fighting is the antidote. The alchemy page shows your toxicity bar.

🔄 Equipment Reforging

Reroll the random affixes on any gear that has them (equipped gear included — stats update immediately). Lock the affixes you want to keep; each locked affix costs one Lock Stone. Reforge Stones drop from decomposing blue-or-better gear (Lock Stones from orange/red). Preview a reroll for free before committing.

💾 Save Compatibility

Save format v47 → v51. Old saves migrate automatically on load — no action needed. Your bag's existing permanent pills become fully effective (no re-crafting needed).