Gems and Miden Shards

Gems
Gems are one of the premium currencies of the game, and can be bought by real cash. Gems can also be obtained in all the tradeskill activities as a global drop, expeditions, navigation chests, and keys. Gems are used on special, global boosts, or can be sold on the market for a large profit. They're also used for reforging runes together and upgrading island buildings.

Work Stamina:
Increases your workload by 1 for each buy and can be useful, since it allows you to idle for longer without having to refresh your stamina. (NOTE: Each 15th purchase of stamina increases the price by 1).

Item Drop Rate:
Increases your chance to find global drops. Each purchase increases this boost by 1%, up to a max of 500%. (NOTE: each 5th purchase of item drop rate increases the price by 1 gem).

Gold Drop Rate:
Increases the amount of gold found from global drops and activities like selling, applied as a multiplier. Each purchase increases this boost by 1% and the max is 500. (NOTE: each 5th buy of gold drop rate increases the price by 1 gem).

Resources Found:
Increases the quantity of resources found from tradeskill attempts. Unlike the relic resources boost, this is applied as a multiplier. Each purchase increases this boost by 1%. (NOTE: each 5th purchase of resources increases the price by 1 gem).

Global EXP Rate:
This increases your EXP rate in both tradeskills and battles, so it is a good buff if you want faster level ups. Each buy increases it by 0.2% and the max is 100%. (NOTE: each 5th purchase of global EXP rate increase the price by 1 gem. Gem EXP rate for combat is multiplied by 5.)

Item Quality Found:
When you find an item, it always have 9 segments, and a segment can be either broken, unlocked or enchanted. What IQF does, is it reduces chances to get a broken segment and increases the chance to get a unlocked or enchanted segment. Each purchase increases it by 1% and the max is 500. (NOTE: each 5th purchase of item quality increase the price by 1 gem).

Expedition Slots:
Gives you another expedition slot, so you can run more expeditions at the same time. (2nd slot cost 250 gems, 3rd 1000 gems, 4th slot 2500)

Miden Shards
Miden Shards is the other premium currency. They are a lot rarer than gems, and can only be obtained via very rare global drops, rare drops from high tier navigation chests or through purchases with real cash.

Miden Shard Uses:
Miden Shards can be used to increase certain gem boosts from 500% up to the new cap of 1000%. However, going beyond 500% can be very pricey, as the gem cost per 1% starts at 125 gems and it requires 2 Miden Shards to unlock every 10% after 500%, the gem cost scales up 1 gem every 5th purchase (5%) and the Miden Shard cost scales up 1 shard every 5 purchases (50%), to a cap of 225 gems and 11 Miden Shards for the final 999>1000% upgrade.

The boosts that this can affect are:

Global EXP

Citizen Found

Gold Drop Rate

Resources Found

Shard Power:
Shard powers are a time-limited bonus activated by using shards. These powers persists through server update/restart if the timer hasnt run out, but needs to be manually restarted.

Passive Enlightement:
Temporarily increases (for 1 hour per 1 shard):
 * Res. Find % of all resource tiers to 100%
 * Gem Stamina to 7 500
 * Gem Item Drop Rate to 400%
 * Gem Gold Drop Rate to 750%
 * Gem Global Exp Rate to 150%
 * Gem Item Quality Found to 400%
 * Gem Quest Item Drop Rate to 300%
 * Gem Resources Found to 750%
 * Gem Citizen Found to 750%

Other Uses:
Miden Shards can also be used to unlock other things such as, a 5th expedition slot, which will cost you 7,500 gems, along with 25 Miden Shards, and Island Special Storage.

These shards can also be used in place of Relics or Gems to reset your currently invested Gems or Relics.