Knowing that ice was a hybrid element helped Eldrian a great deal. He no longer had to rely solely on following along as the mana changed little by little with each cast. He could skip most of this by forcefully mixing darkness mana into the spell.
Eldrian naturally failed often with this attempt. He was trying to take a short cut. Getting the mana signature feelings from casting Tier 0 spells and then trying to 'tell' the spell to mix them. He could not control mana in any raw form yet and to use this roundabout way.
It took a few hours before Eldrian actually managed to accomplish the shortcut. Most often nothing happened. With his first success, it sent a backlash against him. This was the first time Eldrian actually received backlash from failing to cast a spell. Luckily it was not severe, having simply caused him to shiver as an extreme cold had spread through him.
