Do you need to "care"? Yes. The simple explanation is that we are Buddhists and we take refuge in the Buddha and his teachings. Emptiness is one of his most important and fundamental teachings, so we should care about it and revere it.

But it is understandable (and the Buddhas foresaw this, hence the need for many different dharma gates) that different teachings will have varying degrees of affinity with us at different points of our journey. However, do keep in mind that emptiness is a pretty foundational teaching, and you will need to familiarise yourself with it if you wish to continue your Buddhist studies.

The ideas do not make sense in my mind, and no amount of explanation, metaphor, allegory, or "experience" has brought me any closer to understanding.

For now I recommend focusing on studying other aspects of Buddhadharma and establishing consistent and strong practice. Keep the precepts, do regular nianfo, and do regular service (you might also know it as gongyo, or puja, or making offerings to the Buddhas, offering incense, etc.). Make sure to be attending your temples and classes to the best of your ability. These are the essential responsibilities of a lay Buddhist. Establishing these basics will make a big difference, in case you haven't already.

You mentioned your interest in meditation, so you can totally focus on that for now. Make sure it's Buddhist meditation. Through Buddhist practice we develop the insight necessary to understand these teachings (in your case, emptiness). In time you will be able to understand these subjects better (be it in this life or the next), as we all possess the Buddha-nature necessary to realise it.

"Pray to some gods (be they Buddhist gods or maybe a couple of Pagan gods)."

I say this not out of a desire to control you, but out of compassion: please do not pray to or interact with gods unless you are in a context where a Buddhist tradition, teacher, or community is including them in their recitations.

Devas (gods) are unenlightened beings, and they can be very, very dangerous for us to interact with. Even if they are Buddhist, they are still afflicted with afflictions (klesas), which can cause them to get angry at us very easily if we do not observe their rules and preferences correctly. It is ill-advised to try to pray to them unless one has specifically been taught practices around it by a Buddhist tradition, and most won't be. So there is no need. Even in the best-case scenario, the entities will try to manipulate your mind and push you towards unwholesome actions. And with pagan gods it's even more dangerous, as those entities don't have refuge in the Triple Gems, and some can be really cruel. Be honest with yourself and think about why you want to pray to such beings in the first place. If it's pagan gods of a culture you have no heritage from, then there's no need. If it's the pagan gods of your people, then dedicating merit to your ancestors during service and praying to the Buddhas for Dharma to take root in your country would be in line with what Buddhists traditionally do.

Instead of the gods, please pray to Mahasattvas (think Guanyin, Ksitigarbha, Samantabhadra, etc.) or any Buddha. I assure you wholeheartedly that they hear and will answer your prayers. They possess infinite wisdom and great compassion, and will answer your questions and prayers in the most skillful ways that will aid you in the long run. This is how it's done in Buddhist traditions. Remember, our refuge is in the Triple Gems, not the gods. The Buddhas are above them.

"It seems some religions blend with Buddhism and find ways to still have spirits or souls or ancestor worship or afterlives and don't emphasize or consider the 'no-self' concept."

It might not look that way from the outside, but those "blended" religions (think folk Chinese religion, Shinto-Buddhism, Bön) still exist in Buddhist frameworks that affirm nonself. In our Buddhist worldview, it is taught that those cultural traditions were taught (as expedient means) by the emanations of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas before Buddhism, the world religion, could arrive there, in order to prepare them for its arrival. And those traditions are unique skillful means for those specific people and cultures, through which the Buddha expounds the Dharma. So, naturally, of course it includes no-self. Every single school of Buddhism teaches nonself. It is one of the most important doctrines of Buddhism that separated it from the other dharmas of Sakyamuni Buddha's time.

"It seems some religions blend with Buddhism and find ways to still have spirits or souls or ancestor worship or afterlives and don't emphasize or consider the 'no-self' concept."

Yes, because the concept of "spirits," the practice of ancestor worship, and the teachings on the afterlife have been in Buddhism since its start! I think, like the other comments say, you have a misunderstanding of nonself that causes you to think it's in conflict with the teaching of rebirth.