this line seems conclusive. yes, size == n lights according to this.
"For example area_light x,y,4,4 specifies a 4 by 4 array of lights. If you
specify adaptive 3 it would mean that you should start with a 9 by 9 array. In
this case no adaptive sampling is done. The 4 by 4 array is used.
"
so back to my original question, a million lights, seriously?