Regarding the "electric waves" spell, it can be used either in combination with the "electric arts" spell, or with a sufficiently high level of spells in the stormshaper school. Without one of these conditions being met, it will do more harm then good.
To mutate you need the effect and enough "mutation vitamins" to allow them to happen. Giving yourself 1 point in each will trigger the alerts but you need about 500 points of both "changing" and "mana mutation"to get something.
I gave myself and used a "mana mutagen" vial which I figured would be enough. However I haven't really played with mutations much, so perhaps 1 vial isn't enough?
One vial gives you about 200 points. To really get the ball rolling use a "primer" and a "mutagenic catalyst" primer gives large dose of specific mutation tree, like "mana mutation" and catalyst gives large dose of "changing" effect.
Checked out more info, one vial technically has enough to mutate you, but the odds go up as you have more mutagen in your system. Basically you have been getting unlucky, but only slightly. It is about a 10% chance that a single vial will give you enough juice to mutate, unless you REALLY want several mutations all at once, i suggest just taking 2 vials at the same time. Also, the odds of mutation being good or bad depend on how recently you mutated, it takes about 100 days for your system to reset to the maximum chance of good mutation after your last one. Robust genetics reset faster.
@@AreimaYTsee my comment further down with a link to a very helpful reddit thread about mutations as of a couple months ago. It's mostly the same as that guy said, but instability is gained differently. Open source game dev changes these details fast, lol.