If he hadn't experienced it himself, Hao Ren would never have imagined that a starship captain of such dazzling glory had started out by clutching textbooks and memorizing instruction sets—ordinary novels and movies never covered this part!
Still, the Data Terminal hadn't lied about at least one thing: the textbooks had indeed been adjusted according to his comprehension and worldview. The physical modifications he'd undergone had also enhanced his brainpower. Although the textbooks looked like heavenly scripture to Hao Ren, after rote-memorizing the basics, he discovered that he could more or less understand the material that followed.
He didn't need to know how the starship core worked—the entire universe probably had only a handful of people who could understand the Empire's high-end technology. All he needed was to know which commands to input in different situations. At most, he could also learn the meanings behind those commands so he could adapt in the future. That was the knowledge required of a starship captain, and enough to deal with most situations.
In any case, if the ship broke down, he could just leave it to the Autonomous Mechanical Units inside to fix.
Hao Ren had held the Data Terminal and studied from early morning until after ten. During that time, Little Merman Doudou stayed beside him. The pot filled with water had become the little one's personal equipment. It sat on the coffee table, and every so often she would jump into it and swim a couple of laps, then hop out, tug on Hao Ren's clothes, climb onto his stomach, and lie there to rest. Occasionally, she would mumble a couple of unintelligible sleep-talk sounds. She looked perfectly content.
"I'm starting to think the biggest problem with raising a mermaid is that you have to change clothes all the time."