distro barely matters beyond how you get the packages.

there's a reason arch is popular, it can be whatever you want it to be.

tbh, it sounds like you don't have a great understanding of Linux (not an attack!) so I would definitely stay away from Kali, and other distros like that.

stick with Arch if you're confident you can maintain it, or if you want to have a system which you don't have to poke at Fedora is a great option

Arch is a pretty good one if you want to control and tinker. I have personally found it to be very reliable over the years, and the AUR is exceptionally powerful (although you NEED to review your PKGBUILDs, there's nothing stopping someone from putting malware on the AUR again). The packaging format is so simple and easy that I actually build a few performance-critical packages locally so I can tweak compiler flags (gimmie that -march native).

Nix is cool and kinda crazy, but honestly? I'd hold off until you're comfortable with Arch. Same with Gentoo.

Other hardcore options include Gentoo or just going Linux from scratch.

Nice to know you're enjoying Linux :P

I think that later on in your adventure, you'll notice that you don't actually need a distro that's hard to maintain in order to do the hardcore stuff.

Going back to more tame distros (Mint, Debian, Fedora, Solus) may actually suit you better, even for said tasks.

You're going to feel right at home with TempleOS.

I understood the exaggeration part, just not the specifics 😁 Alright, cool