You do realize that you have learned the fire spells from your last quest, don't you?
You could have cast fire wall and done 6 damage with 1 cast and done it 3 times for a total of 18 damage!
If all of us did that for one set of enemies, we could actually kill a few of them on this first day.
Jumping into melee without much armor can get you killed.
Just a friendly reminder, but ultimately, it is your call.