Finally I made the leap.
Used the stopwatch to get the boot time from BIOS POST to login screen: 1:02.4
Added
sys-apps/openrc ~amd64
sys-apps/baselayout ~amd64
to /etc/portage/package.keywords
Emerged them and followed the guide:
No problemo. New boot time:
00:48.4
Sweet. Thx Roy!