this My first was 99 fire making which is considered nooby but I didn't care. If you like the cape and are proud you got it then it doesn't matter what other people think.
i personally never noticed a difference between leafbladed sword and whip on mith tasks if anything it had a lower max hit and took slightly longer to kill
do you want to lvl it in a hurry or do you just want to take your time with it? if you just buy the hides then craft you could spend the extra time making the money back