The thrilling thing about arch is you get to put together your own user land applications, especially things that could form your desktop environment, audio stuff, etc.
I agree it is not that complicated. If you want more thrill, here is what I recommend:
gentoo Linux
has the option to compile everything from source. This isn’t just for bragging rights. This resolves a whole class of software breakages that can happen on other distros (especially when using old or less common applications).
It gives you the option (emphasis on optional) to use openRC, an alternative to systemd.
patch any software super easily, working nicely with the system
customize compile flags on a global level
have package manager manage software that isn’t available in repos, or easily write a package script for it (technically AUR can do this, but gentoo more powerful)
works like a charm with heavily customized setups, such as musl, or less common architectures like arm or risc-V
NixOS
Takes it a step beyond gentoo and uses a functional, lazy approach in package management. Every package is fully reproducible, has a kind of isolated environment. Your entire setup is reproducible and declared with a single file.
---- below this line is torture. Not recommended
slackware
Idk how it works exactly, but package management looks like a manual pain
Linux from scratch
A book where you create your Linux installation from scratch, compiling every single component until you reach a working system
Notable mentions
Alpine Linux: uses musl and busybox by default. Extremely lightweight. Some things will not work, but you get the thrill of running a couple MB distro
void Linux: ok I’m tired of writing so I will not explain that one