Any cheap ass carbon steel skillet from a restaurant supply store will be completely fine and very durable. You don’t need to buy 5-ply allclad stainless steel for everything, only for recipes that use the fond for a pan sauce really, or maybe recipes that require adding acidic ingredients early in cooking.

If I had no pans I would get a carbon steel comal and a regular old stainless steel saucepan as my #1 and #2 and then probably get an Instant Pot for #3 so I can get those tasty tasty beans.