Crystal Economy

Simple yet complicated question. Mid-game player (10+ mil).

I can stay decently high in GAC but can't seem to punch up cause I have bare minimum GL unlock as opposed to full team relic 7+ pretty much for most unlocks.

As a F2P player what is the best way now to get your characters to relic 8/9.

Assuming starting at 0.

Crystals it costs 11k in relic 9 materials alone.

There is era shipment as a choice now but that requires crystals to stay high in rankings for coliseum to maximize era currency.