The recent Return of the Ancients update for Path of Exile 2 continues to surprise players with hidden mechanics and mysteries. Last week, one of the community's most famous players, streamer Carn, was the first to encounter a mysterious room that turned out to be part of an unusual global event.
While playing end-game content, Carn discovered a mysterious chamber in one of the empty locations. By that point, he had already reached level 100 — an achievement that only a few players accomplish due to the enormous time investment.
Upon attempting to enter the room, the game displayed a warning: "Your strength is undeniable. Your resolve is unyielding. Are you ready to become a Martyr?" Below, in red text, it stated that entering would permanently destroy the character.
After several minutes of discussion with his viewers, Carn decided to experiment. His character entered the chamber, the interface disappeared, the character was lowered underground, after which the screen flashed white. The player found himself in the character selection menu, where his warrior was still displayed in the list but was unavailable for further play.
It was later revealed that the character did not simply die. In the leaderboard, he remained immortalized under the title "Martyr of the First Edict."
However, the story did not end there. Returning to the same room with another character, Carn discovered that the mysterious chamber had disappeared, and in its place, a glowing orb appeared with an offer to receive "a particle of the martyr's power." The reward was an additional passive skill point.
The most interesting thing was revealed later: not only Carn himself received the bonus. His sacrifice unlocked an additional passive skill tree point for all players in the solo league, where multiplayer is prohibited.
Players of the regular league had to wait for their own "martyr," but not for long. Just a few hours later, a user named ResurrectGodAura also sacrificed a max-level character, unlocking the same reward for the rest of the community.