Came back to this level again today. Finally cleared it at 656 moves. I'm an absolute unit!
Edit: Went maniac 518 attempt 2.
Edit 2: 444! Level needs 3 more players. Hoping I can get sub 400.
424
414 Tied with the legendary duke6666
Optimization process was somewhat logical compared to other inverse hole levels. I'm enjoying having completed this level more than I enjoyed the solving process, so I guess that means it needs to get a bad rating.
Somehow the only Letter World level that turned out anywhere between the extreme ends of the difficulty scale, at least in my opinion. Fun to figure out what goes where in the path, and fun to optimize afterward.