Essence / Runes

Essence is obtained through excavation quests and certain monsters. These are traded for Runes. Runes are forged to socketable equipment for boosts.

Acquiring Essence
The first step to the process is to acquire essences.

Four types of Essence: Note: The first excavation listed gives slightly more essence (1450 as opposed to 1400). Each takes 1800 energy over the 4 levels (300, 400, 500, and 600) and can be cashed in at any time. You have 120 hours to complete the levels. If you run out of time you can still cash in to the last completed level.
 * 1) Attack (Monsters)
 * 2) Alpha Mephistopheles, Corvintheus, Gehenna, Glacius, Kessaran, Malekus, Typhonus, Vermilion
 * 3) Damage (Monsters)
 * 4) Abomination, Alpha Bahamut, Alpha Kraken, Ambrosia, Aurora, Azeron, Azriel, Fenix, Jahanna, Kraken, Lion's Rebellion, Magmos,  Urmek, Valhalla, Vorak
 * 5) Defence (Excavation quest in Underworld [Quest 7] or Land of Mist [Quest 3])
 * 6) Health (Excavation quest in Mist II [Quest 12] or Land of Water [Quest 4])

For a more detailed breakdown view this posting on the forums.

Converting to Runes
In order to trade your essence into runes you must visit your guilds trade market. On FB (Guild --> Trade Market) on iOS (More --> Trade Market). It is best to trade with your own guild, as the higher your essence store is, the higher a bonus will be applied when you convert your essence. If you guild does not have any room you must find another guild to trade with.

You trade essences in blocks of 200 for 25 energy. Each trade grants your run 1000xp (unless you have a bonus available).

You can only have one of each type of rune. As soon as you have 200 of a single type of essence, it is best to convert and equip if possible. As you get more you will simply be upgrading with the newly converted essence.

Growing your Markets
To grow your markets your guild must improve the storage capabilities of each level. It is best to convert on iOS as it only takes energy to improve storage. Through FB it consumes 5 iron and 5 wood with every 25 energy. The higher the level of storage the higher of a bonus you will start to achieve when trading in essense to your guild.

Rune Usage
Runes are socketed into specific equipment. Unlike Gems which are destroyed when you salvage equipment, runes can be added and removed as many times as possible. The higher the level of rune the higher the benefit is.
 * Attack (Weapon)
 * Damage (Glove) - Also weapon but only if no attack rune yet.
 * Defense (Helmet) - Also Armor but only if no health rune yet.
 * Health (Armor) - Also weapon but only if no attack rune yet.