Either way, the absence of the tool I work with in PS precludes me for upgrading from the free Fuji version.
I'll just use it's RIP.
Seems the reality is no program can match/beat PS for landscape work. I also can't stand their "Library" logic.
I've got Affinity Photo, DXO's latest, C1, Lumiar 3 but only PS gets the job done for me.
Most people I know of, use C1 + PS, or C1 + Affinity Photo or of course LR + PS. In spite of the overlap in capability in current parametric editors and pixel editors they seem to be mainly targeted at two different stages in a photographs workflow.
There is a big difference in capability between the free versions and paid for versions, and the full version takes you a fair bit closer to PS than the free version. In my original reply I hadn't realised you were using the express version, which doesn't come anywhere close to providing the editing tools in the full version.
In the full version, you can create style brushes (or choose from the default set of brushes available) that could probably replicate what you are doing with the PS blend modes. albeit not in exactly the same way.
Although, I don't particularly find anything difficult about their library (assuming you mean catalogue) logic, which doesn't seem especially different from any other catalogue logic, I mainly use sessions, or just use C1 as a browser.
If you want to get a feel for C1 in Landscape photography Paul Reiffers youtube channel is a good place to have a look.
https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulreifferHe pushes the C1 tools to their limits, working mainly on other peoples photographs. Although the official C1 Youtube channel is a good place to "learn" how C1 works, Paul's channel is a far better place to find out how to actually "use" C1.
I also did a youtube. search for style brushes, which threw up a good range of choices.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=capture+one+style+brushesBut to fully learn C1 is a bit of a learning curve. I've been using (and studying) C1 for over 15 years now, and I probably learn something I hadn't thought of, every time I watch a Paul Reiffer video.
It's worth persevering with C1, as while I can't see it replacing PS, it probably offers enough tools to do the bulk of processing in a faster and more efficient way than going into PS. And still offers easy to use round tripping to PS when needed.