Can we load balance cores more efficiently?

I use a different router with different package architecture, so it has no direct value for you. Different directories.

But it should looks something like this:

root@router1:~# cat /etc/opkg/distfeeds.conf
src/gz openwrt_core https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/ipq806x/generic/packages
src/gz openwrt_base https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/packages/arm_cortex-a15_neon-vfpv4/base
src/gz openwrt_luci https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/packages/arm_cortex-a15_neon-vfpv4/luci
src/gz openwrt_packages https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/packages/arm_cortex-a15_neon-vfpv4/packages
src/gz openwrt_routing https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/packages/arm_cortex-a15_neon-vfpv4/routing

Note the snapshots/packages/arm_cortex-a15_neon-vfpv4/... items.
You only had the "base" but no luci, packages, routing