Time passed faster than Ryan expected.
What began as a small dream with a few employees slowly grew into something much bigger. The years between 1996 and 2000 became the most transformative period of Ryan's life.
During those four years, almost everything around him changed.
Nova Tech was no longer the small startup that had struggled to launch the Nova Handheld. The company expanded rapidly as more developers, engineers and designers joined the team. What once had only ten employees slowly grew into a professional studio of over two hundred people.
To manage such growth, the company had to restructure itself. Tim Drake led the transformation of Nova Tech into a proper corporate structure. Departments were formed and different development teams were organized.
By 1999, Nova Tech had ten different development teams, each focusing on separate projects. Some teams worked on handheld games, while others focused on the home console division.
The company culture also changed. Meetings became more formal, production pipelines were created, and game development schedules were planned years ahead.
But despite all the professionalism, Ryan still remained the creative heart of the company.
Using the knowledge from his previous life, Ryan quietly guided the development of several ambitious titles.
For the home console, Nova Tech released games that soon became massive hits.
Among them were large open-world and action titles such as Grand Theft Auto, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. The company also developed military action games similar to Call of Duty, which quickly gained popularity among older players.
These games were far more complex than handheld titles and required large development teams, but the results were extraordinary.
Within just a few years, Nova Tech's home console had become a serious competitor in the gaming market.
The combination of handheld gaming success and powerful home console games pushed the company's reputation to an entirely new level.
By the end of the decade, Nova Tech was considered one of the fastest growing gaming companies in the industry.
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During these years, Ryan's personal life also experienced major changes.
In 1998, Ryan's father accepted an opportunity to move the family to San Francisco.
For most people, the move was simply a career decision. But for Ryan, it meant something much more important.
San Francisco was the city where Genovia's future princess, Mia Thermopolis, lived.
The Giri family purchased a new house in a quiet neighborhood of the city.
By coincidence—or perhaps fate—their house happened to be only a few streets away from Mia's home.
Ryan enrolled in the same school where Mia studied.
But he was not the only one who followed him.
Rachel had grown extremely close to Ryan during the past few years, and when she learned that Ryan was moving to San Francisco, she convinced her parents to transfer her there as well.
Because of this, Rachel ended up enrolling in the same school too.
Their small circle of friends slowly reunited.
Raj and Chandler also moved to the same school a little later, which made their friend group feel complete again.
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Life in San Francisco became a mixture of work, school, and friendships.
Ryan spent many afternoons with Rachel walking through the streets of the city. Sometimes they studied together, sometimes they simply talked about their future.
Rachel often joked that Ryan was becoming a workaholic.
"You run a company, make games, draw manga and still study," she once said while laughing. "Are you secretly a robot?"
Ryan only smiled.
There were also moments when the two of them simply sat quietly watching the sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge.
Those quiet moments became some of Ryan's most precious memories.
At the same time, their friend group continued spending time together.
Raj remained the shy but intelligent one in the group, while Chandler constantly joked about everything.
Sometimes the four of them played games together at Ryan's house, testing new Nova Tech prototypes.
Family time also remained important to Ryan.
Despite running a growing company, Ryan still ate dinner with his parents almost every night. His mother often reminded him not to overwork himself, while his father enjoyed discussing business strategies with him.
Even though Ryan had the mind of someone far older than his age, moments like these reminded him that he was still living a second life.
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But the biggest financial transformation happened outside the gaming industry.
Around 1997, Ryan established Nova Investments, a financial division focused on trading stocks, commodities and futures.
Using knowledge from his previous life, Ryan carefully entered several markets.
He invested heavily in emerging technology companies while also trading futures contracts.
During the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, Nova Investments made massive profits by short selling several Asian currencies and financial markets.
Later, as the dot-com bubble began inflating in the late 1990s, Ryan quietly prepared another strategy.
While most investors rushed to buy internet companies blindly, Nova Investments began shorting several overvalued technology companies before the crash.
These financial strategies generated enormous profits.
By the year 2000, Nova Investments had accumulated several billion dollars in capital.
Ryan used part of this wealth to quietly acquire shares in important technology companies.
Among his biggest investments were Apple and Nvidia.
Using Nova Investments, Ryan gradually purchased large positions in these companies, aiming to become one of their major shareholders.
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By the year 2000, Ryan's empire looked completely different from the small beginning in 1994.
Nova Tech had become a major game developer.
Nova Investments controlled billions in assets.
The Pokémon franchise had expanded worldwide through games, manga and toys.
And Ryan himself was still only fifteen years old.
But despite all this success, Ryan knew that the future held even bigger opportunities.
Because somewhere in San Francisco lived a girl who would soon discover that she was the princess of a small country called Genovia.
And Ryan had already made sure that their paths would cross.