Sunsteel

Resource

Perhaps the most important construction material of the early epochs, sunsteel is an alloy of iron and carbon that has had long term exposure to Aetherium. The metal is extremely accepting of all manner of enchantment or magical enhancement, making it ideal for the various wondrous works of the godsmiths.

The game's own text DataminedCurrency.Salvage.1

Where it comes from

Sunsteel is acquired by Salvaging items of Uncommon or greater rarity and via Hidden Stashes scattered throughout the realms.

The game's own words, from the Resources screenCorroborated.

What it is spent on

Where	Priced in	Amount
Enchanting an item to a higher rarity`craftingEnchant`	15 places	5–300
Upgrading a Shard`craftingRuneUpgrade`	1 place	10
Upgrading an item`craftingUpgrade`	40 places	2–150

What the drop tables grant

Context	Rows	Amount each
A boosted character’s starting items	1	100
Dreamstone rewards	20	5–200
Not named by the file	2	10–20
Salvaging items	20	1–60

These are the amounts a single grant is worth. Where each context fires — which activity, which enemy, how often — is UNKNOWN: the files name the context, not the place, and the drop trace has not been run for resources.

Sources

Row: Aperion/Content/Aperion/Data/Gameplay/SourceData/source_data.json → currencies → Currency.Salvage.1 Datamined
Name and description: the game's own string table, read bytools/extract_resources.py
What spends it: valorplateLeveling, craftingUpgrade,craftingEnchant, craftingRuneUpgrade and zenunShop— every table that names this tag in a cost list
What grants it: lootCurrency