Safety in numbers, always have at least two people if you possibly can, so one can run away and come back to save the other if you get KO'd.

Get reasonable armor when you can to keep from losing limbs (unless you want a prosthetic). South of the Holy Nation there's a lot of weaker bandits, near the Hub, which is good for getting your butt kicked safely.

Once your team is tough enough to not immediately lose limbs/die, I like to head west from the Hub to one of the Hive villages, there you can join the militia dealing with local wildlife hazards, which will give you training AND let you loot the drops off of said wildlife. You can then turn around and sell the drops to the Hive folks for food and extra money.

Trading is reasonably lucrative if you can figure out what sorts of goods are both safe to transport through territories where the locals might get mad at you, and in demand somewhere. Long distance trips also have the advantage of helping you level your running skills, which are one of the most important skills. Nothing is too dangerous if you can run fast enough to get away.

You can help level up combat skills faster, once you have enough to not immediately die, by deliberately wearing stat reducing equipment.

Best of luck. Easy mode is (or was, maybe they patched it) making clothes in a reasonable sized town, once your main armorer gets enough skill you can turn very cheap raw materials into legendary headbands and sell them for enormous profits.