Book (part of a trilogy) where a powerful demon makes a computer out of lesser demons

Question

I'm looking for the title of a book (part of a trilogy, I'm almost 100%) where a powerful demon makes a "computer" out of lesser demons where:

• thousands of demons that had their tongue in/out for binary data
• "firefly" demons in a grid to create a monochromatic "screen"

... in the books, they never refer to it as a "computer", after all it's a fantasy novel with magic where aside from maybe alchemy, there was no modern/electrical technology. But it was essentially a "Minecraft redstone" computer before Minecraft existed.

I believe the protagonist's strength was that he was not "great" at any specific discipline, but instead he was "good" at almost everything. (And I think he eventually mastered all the disciplines? One might have been Alchemy, and another maybe Sorcery?)

The era in which I read the book could be anywhere from probably 1986 through maybe 1996?

Answer 1

This is a conflation of Lyndon Hardy's trilogy "Master of the Five Magics", "Secret of the Sixth Magic" and "Riddle of the Seven Realms".

The protagonist who masters all five disciplines, Thaumaturgy, Alchemy, Magic, Sorcery, and Wizardry, is in the first book.

If I recall correctly, the demon computer is in book number 3.