Runestones raise a General's Specialty level. Ranked F2P sources: Dwarf's Lucky Apple - giving a pie to the world-map Witch yields a 'Witch's Gift' with a chance at 100-runestone chests (one player got 300 from 6 gifts); Battlefield personal-score rewards at BoC/BoG/Chalons give 40-350 chests depending on score and win/loss; defeating an enemy player in Battlefield/Server War where both sides lose 30M+ troop power drops runestones; Daily Activity (145 score) gives 5 chests; Champion loyalty level gives escalating chests from Lv1 (3) up to Lv20 (3,000); selling (normal 'Dismiss', not 'Perfectly Dismiss') a trained general refunds runestones - scales steeply with rarity/stars/cultivation, e.g. a Lv38 5-star Gold Historic general with cultivate 500 and Purple x3 Specialty returns 746 chests. Non-free: Auction (40,000 gems minimum bid for 500), Black Market (2,500 gems for 10), paid Advanced Journey event ($4.99 for 1,000) and Event Packages. Chest drop rates by specialty: Leadership 33.85%, Military 30.77%, Glory 24.62%, Immortal 10.77%.
Original research source: Evony Guide Wiki