[2020] New player looking for advice

Hi all!

I started playing about 5 days ago and liked the game for the most part. But im having some problems at the moment.

Im lv 18 right now with a gs of 555. I have done every single side quest, hunted my fair share of bosses, joined random regional quests and completed every single repeatable mission every day to this point. Right now I'm at the quest with the fairies "The Black Sun Ritual". But I feel like I have done something wrong and I should not be here at this point.

Every monster around the mission area (jade reach) is above my level and they take quite a lot of time to kill for me. I'm so confused as to why I'm so underleveled compared to the mission area.

I'm checking side missions from the map to improve my character but there is none showing.

Is this the normal progression of the game, how it is intended to be played, or am I doing something wrong?