Ok let me break down what I did.
So there's these stone plate things called essence fountains. Normally you can throw up to a stack of essence into it to fill it up with water and it'll have some particles that shows it's working. Normally, when you throw an item on it, it'll shoot up into the air (it is proportional to the amount of essence stored in the fountain)
However, there are some blocks that give the essence fountain a different color, and soumpeixe and I have discovered that they also have completely different properties. 
The three on the back are fountains on ice blocks, which accelerate any item on top of it. The last fountain is on top of an essence transformer, so any item that falls into the fountain will be converted to essence and maintain their momentum. Blocks of rubidium have the highest essence conversion, so that is why I got bombarded with a stupid amount of essence. 
It's really weird and finicky but super fun

-ShimmeringStars