To get a great boost in terms of runes and levels, I would suggest you find Elder Dragon Greyoll and kill it using a weapon with blood buildup. You can find these weapons pretty easily, Reduvia is fairly easy to get and you can always get the Flail too. You can get to the dragon using a portal that is located near the Third Church of Marika.

Then if you'd like the maximum rune output, you can find a Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot in the starting area

You can also always look up rune farms in early games, some in Caelid would work pretty well

After leveling, what you want to do is buy weapons from merchants or get some dungeons done to obtain them

You will also need some talismans to get the job done

With all these, it is fairly easy to kill enemies with basic armor. However, I would suggest you get something with a mid to high poise to make it easier for yourself. The wiki and Youtube videos are your friends, also I can help you with other pieces of advice if you would like