No, I'm not suggesting a craftable drill to dig even faster. I'm suggesting a craftable drill to launch you straight up, destroying blocks on the way, and when the surface is reached, you land safely next to the hole you just made (no resources can be gained this way).
Besides being an obvious shout out to Gurren Lagann, this will put an end to getting lost underground, and may even allow for a quick escape from mobs. It's not even without risk; you could come up under an ocean, or in the middle of the night. Or fall back in the hole.
Crafting recipe should involve obsidian and redstone. Needs to force the player to have digged deep enough to find redstone, and long enough/luckily enough to find the diamond to mine the obsidian. This is too useful a tool to just make out of iron and redstone.
Maybe you should need to craft a diamond tip separately? Maybe that's taking it too far...
Besides being an obvious shout out to Gurren Lagann, this will put an end to getting lost underground, and may even allow for a quick escape from mobs. It's not even without risk; you could come up under an ocean, or in the middle of the night. Or fall back in the hole.
Maybe you should need to craft a diamond tip separately? Maybe that's taking it too far...