But, just wanted to share that I was similarly surprised to land on mouse keys as a preference. I tried most of the UHK modules which were also pretty good and have since tried various other trackballs and pads, but since trying UHK mouse keys, they're what I keep coming back to most, even since switching to new keyboards.
One issue I have with mouse keys is fear of using them in front of others though: every so often, if I need to click something particularly small and don't have a keyboard shortcut memorised (vscode panel resizing is one) it can sometimes take me a fair few embarrassing seconds drawing small squares around my target before I resort to actual mouse hardware.
For the amount of time and thought and effort people have put into alternative mice, I feel mouse keys are massively overlooked and probably have a lot of room for software/firmware innovation without hardware costs.