The geezer doesn't even need so many pill furnaces anymore, having greatly increased his success in creating pills with veins. After all, he only had a score of furnaces in active use because with his old method, for every hundred pills, he'd get a few with veins. So, he wanted to refine a whole lot of pills. But now he can make far less pills but still get more pills with veins. So, there's no need for a room full of furnaces.